NCJ Number
229367
Date Published
2009
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This chapter provides a description of significant life experiences of formerly incarcerated people and how they describe the process of changing their lives.
Abstract
The focus of change was found to have little to do with criminal behavior, but a multitude of other life experiences. Addiction was a prominent aspect of the participants' lives, and for many of them incarceration was a manifestation of problems with substance abuse. In terms of the other aspects of transformation, no consistent patterns emerged. Participants described various ways of coming to a good place in their lives. This suggests there is no single pathway through the role transformation process; and no cookie-cutter approach can address the many problems and/or make maximum use of the individual strengths and resiliencies that formerly incarcerated people bring with them. Research indicates that conviction and imprisonment are life experiences with profound implications for an individual's future life chances, confronting numerous challenges and barriers. How individuals describe events in their lives and what they have learned from them illuminate important questions such as how formerly incarcerated people identify problematic areas of life that need to be changed, and what they learn as a consequence of positive life changes. To further explore these issues, this study centers on how meaningful change is defined by people who have been incarcerated and what they have learned from their positive experiences. The study consisted of 37 individuals responding to a survey. Tables, notes, and references