Social networks of incarcerated and reentering individuals: current findings and future directions

• In Event: PWG - Social, spatial, and contextual influences on desistance

Abstract

Criminologists have long been interested in prison informal social organization. More recent research has extended this line of inquiry into social support upon prison release. The prominence of structural and social interactional properties for penological and reentry research creates conditions ripe for network approaches, but it is only recently that scholars have applied network data collection and analyses to the informal organization of prison and post-prison groups. For this study, we overview groundbreaking social network prison and reentry research. In doing so, we highlight the promise a network approach offers in answering foundational disciplinary questions and informing prison-based and post-release programming. We also outline current gaps in our understanding and end with promising future directions to extend knowledge of the structure, dynamics, meaning, and impacts of social relations during and after incarceration.

Authors

• Miranda Sentse, Leiden University

• Derek A. Kreager, Pennsylvania State University

• Francesca Pallotti, University of Exeter Business school