About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

68 Fed. Probation 14 (2004)
A Civic Engagement Model of Reentry: Involving Community through Service and Restorative Justice

handle is hein.journals/fedpro68 and id is 90 raw text is: A Civic Engaement M odel o Thrug Srvcean Rsoatv Gordon Bazemore, Ph.D. Jeanne Stinchcomb, Ph.D. Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice Florida Atlantic University IN THE REENTRY process, the community is, at the same time, both a major stumbling block and a major resource. On the one hand, overall decline in community involvement and civic commitment has been identified as a general problem facing democratic societies (Putnam, 2000; Barber, 1992). In that regard, prospects for sustaining safe, productive and economically-viable civic life in communi- ties confronted with thousands of persons returning from prison appear to be even more greatly diminished (Rose and Clear, 1998). One primary reason for this is the structural obstacles to productive citizenship faced by persons currently or formerly under correctional supervision. Although widespread restriction of vot- ing rights (Uggen and Manza, 2003) has recently captured public attention, this bar- rier is but one component of a broader array of institutional roadblocks facing persons convicted of felony offenses in the communi- ties to which they will return. As Uggen et al. (2002) point out, both inmates and those under community supervision are denied or inhibited access to a variety of roles that bind most citizens to conventional society. Specifi- cally, post-release adjustment is inhibited by restrictions on occupational licensing and employment opportunities, loss of parental rights, and prohibition from holding elec- tive office or serving on juries-as well as other forms of formal and informal social stigma. Because personal and civic identity is largely determined by the relative strength of our ties to various social institutions, such restrictions greatly diminish the reintegrative capacity of persons formerly under correc- tional supervision. In turn, having substantial proportions of such disconnected individuals concentrated in certain areas greatly dimin- ishes both the human and social capital of these environments. As the informal network that sustains a meaningful commitment to the common good (Bellah et al., 1991; Put- nam, 2001), the relevance of social capital for public safety is found in its capacity to mobilize informal social control (Clear and Karp, 1999; Bazemore, 2001) and social sup- port (Cullen, 1994). Unfortunately, traditional policy and prac- tice governing parole and other forms of reen- try have been woefully inadequate in working to overcome these obstacles. Moreover, reentry protocols have been characterized by a dis- connect between research/theory and com- munity-oriented intervention. While theorists have identified informal control and social support as naturally occurring phenomena (e.g., Bursik and Grasmick, 1992; Sampson et al., 1997), models of how to revitalize, mobi- lize, or regenerate these critical features of neighborhood safety are lacking. The general purpose of this paper is there- fore to demonstrate the need for a broad- based theoretical and policy-focused effort directed toward strengthening the role of civic and community commitments in the reentry process. Drawing on civic reintegration lit- erature, we propose a civic engagement inter- vention model that can be used to develop and test the impact of strategies that seek to strengthen commitments in a variety of citizenship domains associated with effective reentry. Civic engagement practice and policy based on such a model would be expected to: Weaken barriers to the development of prosocial identities for persons who have been under correctional supervision; Alter the community's image of such persons; and Mobilize community capacity to pro- vide informal support and assistance. Such practices should thereby promote desistance and successful reentry, as well as enhance the democratic qualities, social jus- tice, and safety of communities. Policy based on civic engagement theory features three primary practice dimensions: 1) decisionmaking based on restorative jus- tice principles, 2) civic community service, and 3) voting enfranchisement and demo- cratic participation. Elsewhere, we describe how voting and democratic participation might increase the likelihood of offender desistance and reintegration (Bazemore and Stinchcomb, 2003; see also Uggen et al., 2002; Uggen, 2003; Flanagan and Faison, 2001). In this article, we focus on the first two dimensions, restorative justice decision- making and civic community service. Three general bodies of literature that we draw upon for theretical and empirical grounding are: interactionist/social psychological theo- ries of identity transformation, life course research, and social disorganization/social capital perspectives on informal social con- trol. These perspectives offer a logical basis for linking variables associated with each of the three practice dimensions to successful reentry, and suggest testable propositions focused on micro, middle-range, and com- munity levels of analysis. 14 FEDERAL PROBATION Volume 68 Number 2

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most