Incarceration, Prisoner Reentry, and Communities

Posted: 3 Aug 2014

See all articles by Jeffrey D. Morenoff

Jeffrey D. Morenoff

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor

David J. Harding

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor - Population Studies Center

Date Written: July 2014

Abstract

Since the mid-1970s, the United States has experienced an enormous rise in incarceration and accompanying increases in returning prisoners and in postrelease community correctional supervision. Poor urban communities are disproportionately impacted by these phenomena. This review focuses on two complementary questions regarding incarceration, prisoner reentry, and communities: (a) whether and how mass incarceration has affected the social and economic structure of American communities, and (b) how residential neighborhoods affect the social and economic reintegration of returning prisoners. These two questions can be seen as part of a dynamic process involving a pernicious feedback loop in which mass incarceration undermines the structure and social organization of some communities, thus creating more criminogenic environments for returning prisoners and further diminishing their prospects for successful reentry and reintegration.

Suggested Citation

Morenoff, Jeffrey D. and Harding, David James, Incarceration, Prisoner Reentry, and Communities (July 2014). Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 40, pp. 411-429, 2014, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2475542 or http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-071811-145511

Jeffrey D. Morenoff (Contact Author)

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor ( email )

500 S. State Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
United States

David James Harding

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor - Population Studies Center ( email )

426 Thompson St., P.O. Box 1248
Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1248
United States

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