Location
AUDITORIUM ROOM 137B
Start Date
4-12-2019 10:20 AM
End Date
4-12-2019 10:35 AM
Faculty Sponsor’s Department
Psychology
Name of Project's Faculty Sponsor
Dr. Jill Stinson
Type
Oral Presentation
Project's Category
Planning or Policy Studies, Psychology
Abstract or Artist's Statement
The United States is home to a large percentage of incarcerated individuals, a majority of whom re-offend upon release. Reentry efforts focus on lowering recidivism through policy and programming to help returning citizens successfully reintegrate into society and become productive, law abiding citizens. Although research on reentry has increased, the primary focus has been on urban reentry programming. Thus, the unique challenges that plague rural reentry, such as rural employment, housing, treatment and healthcare, transportation, and cultural qualities have been largely neglected. The current policy analysis used the rational model of policy analysis in which information on existing policy and programming was gathered via an extensive literature and policy review, then thoroughly described; problems within these current practices related to rural reentry were identified; and alternative strategies to amend policy to aid rural reentry were reported or recommended. Per the current analysis, most policies and programs are designed for, and examined in, urban communities. While there were several domains in which existing policy was, in fact, beneficial to rural returning citizens, all domains demonstrated need for improvement. A major limitation for the current analysis was the lack of research in rural communities. Future directions include examining reentry policy through the lens of specific offense-types for rural offenders, studying the effect of privatized prisons on U.S. rural reentry, and exploring reentry efforts in other countries as a model for change in the U.S. correctional system.
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Effective Practices to Facilitate Rural Reentry: A Policy Analysis
AUDITORIUM ROOM 137B
The United States is home to a large percentage of incarcerated individuals, a majority of whom re-offend upon release. Reentry efforts focus on lowering recidivism through policy and programming to help returning citizens successfully reintegrate into society and become productive, law abiding citizens. Although research on reentry has increased, the primary focus has been on urban reentry programming. Thus, the unique challenges that plague rural reentry, such as rural employment, housing, treatment and healthcare, transportation, and cultural qualities have been largely neglected. The current policy analysis used the rational model of policy analysis in which information on existing policy and programming was gathered via an extensive literature and policy review, then thoroughly described; problems within these current practices related to rural reentry were identified; and alternative strategies to amend policy to aid rural reentry were reported or recommended. Per the current analysis, most policies and programs are designed for, and examined in, urban communities. While there were several domains in which existing policy was, in fact, beneficial to rural returning citizens, all domains demonstrated need for improvement. A major limitation for the current analysis was the lack of research in rural communities. Future directions include examining reentry policy through the lens of specific offense-types for rural offenders, studying the effect of privatized prisons on U.S. rural reentry, and exploring reentry efforts in other countries as a model for change in the U.S. correctional system.