Abstract
The goal of this chapter is to argue both that prisoner reentry research may be improved by systematically drawing on life-course perspectives and, conversely, that life-course theoretical perspectives may be improved by systematically investigating reentry. The salience of these arguments stems from the fact that reentry populations in the USA have increased dramatically and thus present a significant policy challenge (Bushway & Apel, 2012; Mears & Mestre, 2012). At the same time, they present an opportunity to understand better the unfolding of offending over time and what leads some individuals to persist in crime and others to desist.
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The authors thank John Haggerty for his research assistance.
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Mears, D.P., Cochran, J.C., Siennick, S.E. (2013). Life-Course Perspectives and Prisoner Reentry. In: Gibson, C., Krohn, M. (eds) Handbook of Life-Course Criminology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5113-6_18
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