Cultivating a Symbiotic Relationship between Desistance Theory and Prisoner Re-Entry Policy

• In Event: Policy Panel: Bridging Science and Policy: Desistance Research and Offender Re-Entry Policy

Abstract

Current re-entry programs make inferences about various mechanisms of encouraging desistance from offending. For instance, intensive supervision strategies restrict opportunities to offend, work programs structure routines, relocation programs knife individuals off from past criminogenic influences, initiatives to strengthen families draw upon attachment ideas, and behavioral management therapies strive to modify thinking including reflections of identity.

Testing these processes of change, Bersani and Doherty (2013) analyze the effect of relationship transitions and present evidence that situational mechanisms (e.g., stemming from changing routine activities, knifing off from peers, and direct supervision) are more salient than enduring ones (e.g., rebuilding attachments, identity change) in understanding offending and desistance from crime. This research informs hypotheses about the effectiveness of re-entry programs. For instance, if the mechanisms of desistance are more situational, reentry programs that concentrate on building networks to prosocial institutions and cultivating naturally occurring social support systems in the community would be less successful than those that focus on the restriction of opportunities to offend, promote continued and perhaps intensive supervision, structure daily routines, and remove of offenders from criminogenic environments. The current presentation outlines the state of desistance research and asks: How can desistance theory inform prisoner re-entry policy and vice versa.

Authors

• Elaine Eggleston Doherty, University of Missouri - St. Louis

• Bianca Bersani, University of Massachusetts, Boston