IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlawss/v3y2014i4p798-823d43560.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Post-Release Success among Paroled Lifers

Author

Listed:
  • Marieke Liem

    (Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA)

  • Jennifer Garcin

    (College of Social Sciences and Humanities, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115, USA)

Abstract

Previous research suggests that social relations, in particular the forming of family ties and employment (social factors), self-efficacy (personal factors), and therapeutic interventions (institutional factors) constitute main contributors in post-release success. These studies, however, have largely been based on general delinquents serving relatively short prison terms. This study aims to shed light on the influence of social, personal, and institutional factors on post-release success versus failure among paroled lifers. We conducted in-depth life-history interviews with 64 individuals who had served a life sentence, who were either re-incarcerated for another crime or parole violation, or were currently out on parole. The role of social factors in desistance among long-term incarcerated offenders was minimal. Rather, self-efficacy appeared to be a key element in post-release success. These findings suggest that research based on short-term incarcerated offenders cannot be directly translated to long-term incarcerated offenders. This group does not experience the same traditional turning points, such as establishing family ties and employment. Accordingly, long-term prisoners may go through a different process post-release that determines their success versus failure compared to general delinquents who serve shorter sentences.

Suggested Citation

  • Marieke Liem & Jennifer Garcin, 2014. "Post-Release Success among Paroled Lifers," Laws, MDPI, vol. 3(4), pages 1-26, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlawss:v:3:y:2014:i:4:p:798-823:d:43560
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-471X/3/4/798/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-471X/3/4/798/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Devah Pager, 2003. "The mark of a criminal record," Natural Field Experiments 00319, The Field Experiments Website.
    2. Dara N. Lee, 2011. "The Digital Scarlet Letter: The Effect of Online Criminal Records on Crime," Working Papers 1118, Department of Economics, University of Missouri.
    3. Ganem, Natasha M. & Agnew, Robert, 2007. "Parenthood and adult criminal offending: The importance of relationship quality," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 630-643, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Allison Dwyer Emory, 2019. "Unintended Consequences: Protective State Policies and the Employment of Fathers with Criminal Records," Working Papers wp19-04-ff, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    2. Steven Raphael, 2014. "The New Scarlet Letter? Negotiating the U.S. Labor Market with a Criminal Record," Books from Upjohn Press, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, number nsc, December.
    3. Button, Patrick & Walker, Brigham, 2020. "Employment discrimination against Indigenous Peoples in the United States: Evidence from a field experiment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    4. Omar Al-Ubaydli & John A. List, 2019. "How natural field experiments have enhanced our understanding of unemployment," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 3(1), pages 33-39, January.
    5. Bastien Michel & Camille Hémet, 2022. "Custodial versus non-custodial sentences: Long-run evidence from an anticipated reform," PSE Working Papers halshs-03899897, HAL.
    6. Andrew Leigh, 2020. "The Second Convict Age: Explaining the Return of Mass Imprisonment in Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 96(313), pages 187-208, June.
    7. Belay, Dagim G. & Jensen, Jørgen D., 2020. "‘The scarlet letters’: Information disclosure and self-regulation: Evidence from antibiotic use in Denmark," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    8. OKONKWO, Nnamdi Sylvester & EBIE, Sunday Onyekwuma, 2024. "Allegations of Racial Identity Factor in Job Placement in Germany: Africans in the Diaspora Experience," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 8(4), pages 1917-1925, April.
    9. Erin Hatton, 2024. "Work Therapy: Extractive Labour as Therapeutic Intervention," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 38(2), pages 399-417, April.
    10. Christopher Wildeman & Kristin Turney & Youngmin Yi, 2016. "Paternal Incarceration and Family Functioning," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 665(1), pages 80-97, May.
    11. Magnus Lofstrom & Steven Raphael, 2016. "Crime, the Criminal Justice System, and Socioeconomic Inequality," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 30(2), pages 103-126, Spring.
    12. Amanda Agan & Sonja Starr, 2016. "Ban the Box, Criminal Records, and Statistical Discrimination: A Field Experiment," Working Papers 598, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    13. Dworsky, Amy & Gitlow, Elissa, 2017. "Employment outcomes of young parents who age out of foster care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 133-140.
    14. Osborne Jackson & Riley Sullivan & Bo Zhao, 2017. "Reintegrating the ex-offender population in the U.S. labor market: lessons from the CORI Reform in Massachusetts," New England Public Policy Center Research Report 17-1, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    15. Alexandra Baier & Loukas Balafoutas & Tarek Jaber-Lopez, 2023. "Ostracism and theft in heterogeneous groups," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 26(1), pages 193-222, March.
    16. Devah Pager, 2007. "The Use of Field Experiments for Studies of Employment Discrimination: Contributions, Critiques, and Directions for the Future," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 609(1), pages 104-133, January.
    17. Eliot L. Sherman, 2020. "Discretionary Remote Working Helps Mothers Without Harming Non-mothers: Evidence from a Field Experiment," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(3), pages 1351-1374, March.
    18. Keith Finlay & Michael Mueller‐Smith & Brittany Street, 2023. "Criminal Justice Involvement, Self‐Employment, and Barriers in Recent Public Policy," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(1), pages 11-34, January.
    19. Lee, JoAnn S. & Courtney, Mark E. & Tajima, Emiko, 2014. "Extended foster care support during the transition to adulthood: Effect on the risk of arrest," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 34-42.
    20. Casey T. Harris & Michael Nino & Zhe (Meredith) Zhang & Mia Robert, 2023. "Justice System Contact and Health: Do Immigrants Fair Better or Worse than the Native-Born after Arrest, Probation, or Incarceration?," Societies, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-12, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlawss:v:3:y:2014:i:4:p:798-823:d:43560. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.