Framing Reentry: Discourse Analysis of a Collateral Consequences Website

• In Event: Race, Social Structure, and Collateral Consequences

Abstract

Reentry policies shape the experiences of those returning to ‘society’ after incarceration. Collateral consequences of conviction are among such policies. This analysis of the US-government funded National Inventory of Collateral Consequences of Conviction (NICCC) highlights discursive construction of obstacles to reentry as inevitable and persons who face such obstacles as individuals without responsibilities for others, that is, out of actual contexts of their lives. Methodological foci included presuppositions, process types, and textual omissions. This study expands the conversation on reentry of formerly incarcerated persons by examining how relevant institutions shape notions of harm and responsibility. Carceral systems contribute to penal harm through the way they present information about sanctions, and not merely through the sanctions they impose.

Author

• Curdajah Bonner, University of Tennessee, Knoxville