Abstract

With prison populations on the rise, it is imperative to find re-entry programs that effectively decrease recidivism. Understanding the experiences of participants and the criminogenic factors that provoke and prohibit their successful reintegration is a vital aspect of evaluating re-entry programs. With sixteen in-depth interviews, this study evaluates the pilot re-entry program, RealVictory, by exploring the opinions and experiences of its participants including the key criminogenic factors affecting their successes and failures during the reintegration process. The two most pervasive criminogenic factors affecting recidivism for participants of this study were support systems and desire to change. While both the control and treatment groups had three members rearrested since they were last out of jail or prison, we find that re-arrest isn't necessarily the best measure of program success despite the common use of this measure in quantitative studies (Seiter, 2003). All participants who went through the RealVictory program reported that the program was effective in helping them to stay out of crime.

Degree

MS

College and Department

Family, Home, and Social Sciences; Sociology

Rights

http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

Date Submitted

2010-07-09

Document Type

Thesis

Handle

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd3783

Keywords

reintegration, re-entry, crime desistence

Language

English

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