Juveniles convicted of serious offenses usually end up in large correctional facilities that focus on punishment--not rehabilitation. The state of Missouri, however, has found a better way to help end the cycle of crime: by creating a network of small facilities that provide therapy and educational opportunities, it has dramatically reduced…

Individuals with disabilities are a growing population that confronts multiple disadvantages from social and environmental determinants of health. In particular, the 7-8 million people in the U.S. with an intellectual disability (ID) suffer disproportionately from substance use problems, largely because of a lack of empirical evidence to inform…

On a recent Saturday morning, 20 inmate mothers filed into the prison chapel at Alabama's Tutwiler Prison to participate in a unique program--The Storybook Project, a program of Aid to Inmate Mothers (AIM). AIM is a nonprofit organization that helps mothers in prison stay in contact with their children during their incarceration. At the front of…

Researchers have rarely examined post-release employment among offenders during a period of economic recession. However, studies on employment issues among post-release offenders have showed that released offenders would likely have a higher unemployment rate due to their inadequate education and job skills (Batiuk, 1997; Harlow, 2003; Vacca,…

It is widely recognised that securing employment on release from prison is a significant factor in reducing the chances of an individual re-offending. In the current economic climate where 25 percent of men under the age of 25 are unemployed and total unemployment is running at 2.7 million, the challenge for ex-offenders entering the workplace is…

Drawing on the social psychological concept of possible selves, this study explores the future self concept of young fathers in prison. In considering life after release from prison, qualitative data relating to hoped-for, feared and expected possible selves was generated by 34 young fathers aged between 18 and 21 years. The most common categories…

Emerging evidence suggests that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth experience disparate treatment in schools that may result in criminal sanctions. In an effort to understand the pathways that push youth out of schools, we conducted focus groups with youth (n = 31) from Arizona, California, and Georgia, and…

In this essay, I offer a response to Stemhagen, Reich, and Muth's (see EJ1089246) delineation of disciplined judgment. I draw from my latest obsession with epistemologies of ignorance to complicate their focus on disciplinarity with questions over how non-knowledge gets framed and created. I use Suniti Sharma's seven-year study to highlight the…

A detailed examination was conducted of the factors associated with pre- and postadjudication secure detention, including secure detention as a dispositional sentence and the effects of secure detention on decision making that further contribute to cumulative disadvantage for African Americans. The research was based on interpretations of the…

The educational background and work history of adult incarcerated males who were 90 days or less from release were examined in the present study. The Vocational and Educational History Questionnaire (VEHQ), the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests Revised/Normative Update, and the Basic Achievement of Common Knowledge and Skills were given to offenders…

An increasingly prevalent type of program designed to address college attainment gaps are state-based financial aid programs that offer low-income middle school students a promise of funding for college in exchange for making a pledge to do well in high school, be a good citizen and not be convicted of a felony, and apply for financial aid to…

The School-to-Prison Pipeline (STPP) is an injurious yet growing system of institutional inequity that funnels young people from schools to prisons. As part of the crisis of mass incarceration, STPP is a dimension of Jim Crow, redesigned. It is a disturbing national trend wherein children are policed out of public schools and into the juvenile and…

This research examines the applicability of the Theory of Planned Behavior in predicting supportive behaviors by parents and adult siblings of immediate relatives with intellectual disability. Participants were 67 parents and 63 siblings whose immediate relatives with intellectual disability resided in two institutional care facilities. Three…

Haniyah wrote this article as a 17-year-old participant in Project WHAT!, a program of Community Works West, based in Berkeley, California. The young people in Project WHAT! all have family members who are or have been incarcerated. After an intense summer training, they lead presentations and trainings for teachers, social workers, and criminal…

Associations between early deprivation and memory functioning were examined in 9- to 11-year-old children. Children who had experienced prolonged institutional care prior to adoption were compared to children who were adopted early from foster care and children reared in birth families. Measures included the Paired Associates Learning task from…