Formerly Incarcerated "Jersey Girls" and Urban Justice

• In Event: Poster Session

Abstract

In many cities in NJ (e.g., Camden, Newark) the crime rate is often among the top five in the nation. In this environment, the psychological strategies that women use to cope with fear, uncertainty and deprivation can result in seemingly destructive lifestyles that involve criminality, drugs, and domestic violence. These same forces also presumably influence the formation of their views about justice. The ways then that formerly incarcerated females from urban areas in NJ maintain moral stances towards law-breaking is the subject of this paper. Face to face interviews with a small snowball sample of formerly incarcerated, urban residents explores the symbolic domains of these ‘ordinary’ individual lives as the tangible manifestation of an urban landscape. Importantly, this research explores the implications of urban justice worldviews for surrounding correctional environments and for local public opinion on criminal justice policy.

Author

• Anna King, Georgian Court University