Community re-entry challenges daunt ex-offenders quest for a fresh start

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Research Brief
Lack of an influential male role model in the receiving household.
Double minority status, racially and as an ex-convict.
Issues with parole officers.
Non-utilization of community social services.
Contact with the criminal justice system.
Gang involvement.
Interviewees for the study ranged in age between 21 and 52 years old, with an average age of 36. Most were returning to a poverty-stricken, mainly black community. After 10 months of participation in the project, only 16 remained in the study.
Of the original group, 29 were black, six Latino, and four white. They had served an average of 2.65 prison sentences. The average length of their most recent incarceration was two years.
While 28 percent of participants had no gang involvement, 69 percent either had been involved with or were currently involved with a gang, and 3 percent were unknown. Two partici­pants were married and 22 had at least one child. Ten had either a high school diploma or had obtained a G.E.D.
Interviews covered a wide range of ethnographic topics, including liv­ing situation, relationships with family and friends, employment, education, crime, police contact, gang activity, and personal goals and objectives.
Preparing for release
Through a mandatory pre-release “Pre-Start” program, the Illinois
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Community re-entry challenges daunt ex-offenders quest for a fresh startwithin the first two years after their release.
The many factors contributing to this high recidivism rate are examined in a research study, “Community Re­integration Trajectories: A Qualitative Comparative Study of Gang-Affiliated and Non-Gang-Affiliated Ex-Offend­ers.”
Researchers conducted six in-depth interviews bimonthly over the course of a calendar year with 39 ex-offenders who recently were released from an Illinois penal facility. Their study concentrated on numeric and qualitative data acquired in baseline and final interviews of participants, separated by about 10 months.
As they struggled to reintegrate themselves into their communities, ex-offenders were questioned about their experiences and attitudes.
According to the study, re-en­try has taken on a new significance as more prisoners, who have spent longer terms behind bars and are less prepared for life on the outside, are re­turning home to socially and economi­cally disadvantaged communities.
Methods and participant characteristics
Ninety percent of this country’s prison population of more than two million individuals return home when they are released. Many find the challenges they face to reintegration into society overwhelming. Challenges faced by study participants included:
Difficulty finding a job in the receiving community.
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March 2007
Illinois
Criminal Justice Information Authority
Vol. 2, No. 1Half of the 36,000 ex-offenders annually released from Illinois prisons return to the greater Chicago metropolitan area, according to a 2003 study on prisoner re-entry. Within three years, 9,000 of these former inmates–40 percent–will face rearrest and return to prison. Of these, the majority will be back behind bars
This Research Brief was written by Idetta Phillips, research analyst for the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority. It summarizes a research report, “Community Reintegration Trajectories: A Qualitative Comparative Study of Gang Affiliated and Non-Gang Affiliated Ex-Offenders,” submitted to the Authority by Greg Scott, Ph.D., principal investigator, assistant professor of sociology at DePaul University; Jodie M. Dewey, assistant professor, Concordia University; and Andrea Leverentz, sociology department, University of Chicago.
For more information, or for copies of this or other publications, contact the Authority at (312) 793-8550, or visit our website at www.icjia.state.il.us.
The project was supported by grant #00-DB-MU-0017 awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, through the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority. Points of view or opinions contained within this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice or the Authority.
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