From Enforcing the Law to Serving Time in Prison: How Police Officers Reenter Society

• In Event: Issues and Challenges in Reentry

Abstract

A vast body of research has been compiled which has identified a host of correlates of in-prison misconduct as well as post-prison recidivism outcomes, including inmate characteristics, in prison experiences, and the environments in which prisoners return. Something not considered in prior research is whether those who were law enforcement officers on the outside adapt in prison and recidivate at different levels to prisoners with occupations of similar prestige but not related to enforcing the law. Using data from the Florida Department of Corrections containing a cohort of 248,132 inmates released from prison between 2004 and 2011, a comparison is made of in-prison and post-prison outcomes of 312 law enforcement officers sentenced to prison to inmates with occupations of a similar social standing. The question of whether law enforcement officers adapt to the “pains of imprisonment” and/or have comparable recidivism and employment re-entry outcomes is addressed with the data. A host of control measures are used to create equivalent groups except for their prior occupations to determine the effect of being a law enforcement officer on in-prison and post-release outcomes. The policy and theoretical implications of the results are discussed along with suggestions for future research on this topic.

Authors

• L. Sergio Garduno, Florida State University

• William Bales, Florida State University

• Heather M. Zurburg, Florida State University