Reintegration of Formerly Incarcerated Young Adults

Regents Of The University Of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor MI

Investigators

Abstract

Reintegration of Formerly Incarcerated Young Adults SES - 1060708 David Harding, Jeff Morenoff University of Michigan Abstract Over the last two decades, the number of individuals incarcerated in prisons and jails in the United States has risen dramatically. As a result, over 700,000 prisoners are released each year. Incarceration is disproportionately experienced by young, low skill, African-American males, and has important consequences. For those seeking to understand the experiences of young adults from poor urban communities, the criminal justice system is arguably now as important as the education system or the labor market. Because incarceration separates individuals from social networks and interrupts schooling and employment, it has the potential to delay or preclude key life transitions for young adults, including school completion, first full-time employment, and leaving the childhood household. This project investigates the role of two key social contexts - neighborhoods and households - in the transition to adulthood among formerly incarcerated young people. Our first goal is to investigate which formerly incarcerated young adults end up in more or less disadvantaged neighborhoods and households after their release from prison. We will focus on sociodemographic characteristics such as race and education as well as connections to social support as measured by time in prison and distance from home to prison. Our second goal is to examine the effects of neighborhood characteristics like unemployment and poverty and household characteristics like institutional housing on outcomes critical to the transition to adulthood, including employment, schooling, substance use, and further criminal justice system involvement. To accomplish these goals, we will collect and analyze new administrative data on a cohort of individuals age 18 to 25 released on parole from Michigan prisons in 2003 and followed through 2009. Broader Impacts (A) Through a better understanding of neighborhoods and household contexts, we can begin to develop programs institutions that meet the developmental needs of young adults involved in the criminal justice system. We will write policy briefs that will communicate our findings to policymakers, practitioners, and the public. (B) This project will make a significant contribution to social science infrastructure by collecting new and unique data. We anticipate that our dataset, which we will be archived for use by other researchers, will be of interest to scholars in multiple disciplines. (C) We will work with and mentor students from underrepresented groups as research assistants, both undergraduate and graduate students, including women, African Americans, Latinos, and first-generation college students. (D) This project both capitalizes on and enhances a unique and productive partnership between university researchers and a state agency, the Michigan Department of Corrections. State agencies hold significant quantities of administrative data but rarely have the resources to put them to effective research use.