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During, After, or Both? Isolating the Effect of Religious Support on Recidivism During Reentry

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Abstract

Objectives

To examine the independent and interdependent roles of baseline religious support during incarceration and within-individual changes in religious support on recidivism during the prisoner reentry process.

Methods

Using data from the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative, cross-lagged dynamic panel models are used to examine the respective roles of baseline differences and within-individual changes in religious support on two variety indices encompassing substance use and criminal offending while simultaneously controlling for pre-incarceration levels of substance use and offending.

Results

Findings show that within-individual increases in religious support protect against substance use post-release, while baseline levels of religious support do not significantly influence substance use. Additionally, baseline levels of religious support fail to condition this relationship. Findings assessing criminal offending demonstrate that baseline religious support and within-individual changes in religious support fail to relate to offending independently. However, an interaction term reveals that the combination of the two relates to significantly lower levels of offending post-release.

Conclusions

Findings offer encouragement for those involved in the work of providing religious support to ex-offenders in the community, reaffirming that tailoring support programs to the religious or spiritual ways individuals make meaning in their lives can improve reentry outcomes. Methodologically, failing to distinguish between baseline levels of religious support and post-release changes in religious support fails to capture the complexity of religiosity on the reentry process.

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Notes

  1. As alcohol is not illegal, we estimated models with alcohol and without alcohol included in the substance use variety index. Results of these models were substantively identical and, because individuals on parole are often required not to use alcohol, we included this measure in the variety index.

  2. We also estimated models using non-weighted substance use measures. The substantive results of the models were similar to the weighted models we present.

  3. This measure includes the entire length of the current incarceration period irrespective of the number of sentences being served. It does not account for the total amount of time in which the individual has been incarcerated over their entire life (e.g., a prior term of incarceration).

  4. SVORI researchers asked respondents if they were incarcerated for “some other offense” not included in this list of items.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH, USA

    Thomas J. Mowen & John H. Boman IV

  2. Rutgers University, 405-7 Cooper Street, Camden, NJ, 08102-1521, USA

    Richard Stansfield

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  1. Thomas J. Mowen
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  2. Richard Stansfield
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  3. John H. Boman IV
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Correspondence to Richard Stansfield.

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Mowen, T.J., Stansfield, R. & Boman, J.H. During, After, or Both? Isolating the Effect of Religious Support on Recidivism During Reentry. J Quant Criminol 34, 1079–1101 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10940-017-9366-5

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