Creating a Culture of Credibility and Leadership Among System-Impacted Persons: Moving Beyond Rehabilitation to Leadership Development

• In Event: Creating a Culture of Credibility and Leadership Among System-Impacted Persons

Abstract

In the U.S., the criminal-legal system frames incarceration around "rehabilitation," yet this mindset assumes a return to a prior state rather than a forward path. Leadership and personal growth require more than just individual effort—they demand systems that cultivate opportunity, dignity, and capacity. This presentation argues that development—not rehabilitation—should be the focus when supporting system-impacted individuals. Development does not emerge from punitive systems but through access to education, meaningful opportunities, and the cultivation of personal and professional capacities. Yet, prisons rarely provide these opportunities, reinforcing cycles of exclusion rather than empowerment.

Education, both inside prison and beyond, serves as a key vehicle for leadership development, but it is not a singular solution. Countries like Germany prioritize building the person rather than punishing the crime, offering wages, voting rights, and vocational training that support successful reintegration. Their approach fosters leadership, self-sufficiency, and civic engagement, resulting in dramatically lower recidivism rates. This presentation explores how a system designed to develop, rather than diminish, people can lead to more just outcomes. It calls for shifting away from deficit-based narratives and toward structures that equip system-impacted individuals with the skills, agency, and leadership necessary to drive change in their own communities.

Author

• James Jeter, Full Citizens Coalition