Skip to main content skip navigation
  • Account
    • Login
    • Manage
  • Subscribe
    • JUSTINFO
    • Register
  • Shopping Cart
  • Contact Us
    • Email
    • Feedback
    • Chat
    • Phone or Mail
  • Site Help
National Criminal Justice Reference Service
Office of Justice Programs header with links to bureaus/offices: BJA, BJS, NIJ, OJJDP, OVC, SMART Office of Justice Programs BJA BJS NIJ OJJDP OVC SMART Office of Justice Programs
Advanced Search  Search Help
    Browse By Topics  down arrow
  • A–Z Topics
  • Corrections
  • Courts
  • Crime
  • Crime Prevention
  • Drugs
  • Justice System
  • Juvenile Justice
  • Law Enforcement
  • Victims
CrimeSolutions
Add your conference to our Justice Events calendar
  • ABOUT NCJRS
  • OJP PUBLICATIONS
  • LIBRARY
  • SEARCH Q & A
  • GRANTS & FUNDING
  • JUSTICE EVENTS
Home / Publications / NCJRS Abstract

PUBLICATIONS

Register for Latest Research

Stay Informed
Register with NCJRS to receive NCJRS's biweekly e-newsletter JUSTINFO and additional periodic emails from NCJRS and the NCJRS federal sponsors that highlight the latest research published or sponsored by the Office of Justice Programs.

NCJRS Abstract

The document referenced below is part of the NCJRS Virtual Library collection. To conduct further searches of the collection, visit the Virtual Library. See the Obtain Documents page for direction on how to access resources online, via mail, through interlibrary loans, or in a local library.

1 record(s) found

 

NCJ Number: 205090 Find in a Library
Title: Less Than the Average Citizen: Stigma, Role Transition and the Civic Reintegration of Convicted Felons (From After Crime and Punishment: Pathways to Offender Reintegration, P 261-293, 2004, Shadd Maruna and Russ Immarigeon, eds. -- See NCJ-205080)
Author(s): Christopher Uggen; Jeff Manza; Angela Behrens
Date Published: 2004
Annotation: In addition to work and family, this chapter suggests that civic reintegration is a third significant reintegrative domain for offenders in contributing to crime desistance.
Abstract: The desire to "be productive and give something back to society" is apparently critical to the crime-desistance process (Maruna, 2001:88). The diverse models of citizenship that have been developed in recent years have, broadly speaking, distinguished two central components: citizenship as a set of entitlements that citizens acquire by virtue of membership in the polity; and citizenship as practice, i.e., something achieved through virtuous action or participation in the community in some way. The obstacle to responsible citizenship by ex-offenders is the legal restriction on both the rights and capacities of ex-offenders to attain full citizenship. Ex-felons face additional barriers as collateral consequences of their felony conviction, including occupational restrictions, loss of parental rights or standing, political disenfranchisement, and other formal and informal social stigma. Moreover, post-release adjustment is made difficult by the abrupt discontinuity between pre-punishment and post-punishment roles and social positions. In an effort to examine these various impediments to civic reintegration, the current student conducted 33 semistructured interviews with convicted felons in Minnesota during the spring of 2001. The interviews were undertaken as part of a larger project that examined the consequences of felon disenfranchisement laws in the United States. Inmates, parolees, and felony probationers were asked about their voting behavior, their participation in political and civic life before and after conviction, and their attitudes about crime and community. The study found that there were experiences of barriers to establishing or re-establishing adult roles in society due to a felony conviction. Still, offenders were eager, if sometimes naively optimistic, about establishing or re-establishing their roles at work, home, and in the community so as to capitalize on "what's left" for them in each of these domains. Currently, communities are ill-prepared to accept felons as fellow citizens who have a significant positive contribution to make to a community's life. The felons interviewed needed assistance or anticipatory socialization to translate their idealized identities as law-abiding but imperfect citizens. Creating avenues of community participation that reinforce, rather than limit, citizenship appears likely to enhance the possibilities of successful reintegration. 49 references
Main Term(s): Criminology
Index Term(s): Community involvement; Ex-offender employment; Ex-offenders rights; Social reintegration
Grant Number: 9819015;
Sponsoring Agency: National Science Foundation
Arlington, VA 22230
Open Society Foundation
New York, NY 10019
Willan Publishing
Portland, OR 97213-3644
Sale Source: Willan Publishing
c/o ISBS, 5804 N.E. Hassalo Street
Portland, OR 97213-3644
United States of America
Publisher: http://www.isbs.com 
Page Count: 33
Format: Book (Softbound)
Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
Language: English
Country: United States of America
To cite this abstract, use the following link:
http://www.ncjrs.gov/App/publications/abstract.aspx?ID=205090

*A link to the full-text document is provided whenever possible. For documents not available online, a link to the publisher's website is provided. Tell us how you use the NCJRS Library and Abstracts Database - send us your feedback.




Find in a Library

You have clicked Find in a Library. A title search of WorldCat, the world's largest library network, will start when you click "Continue." Here you will be able to learn if libraries in your community have the document you need. The results will open in a new browser and your NCJRS session will remain active for 30 minutes. Learn More.

You have selected:

This article appears in

In WorldCat, verify that the library you select has the specific journal volume and issue in which the article appears. Learn How.

Continue to WorldCat

You are about to access WorldCat, NCJRS takes no responsibility for and exercises no control over the WorldCat site.

 
Office of Justice Programs Facebook Page  Twitter Page
  • Bureau of Justice Assistance Facebook Page Twitter Page
  • Bureau of Justice Statistics Twitter Page
  • National Institute of Justice Facebook Page Twitter Page
  • Office for Victims of Crime Facebook Page Twitter Page
  • Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Facebook Page Twitter Page
  • Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking Facebook Page Twitter Page
Contact Us | Feedback | Site Map
Freedom of Information Act | Privacy Statement | Legal Policies and Disclaimers
USA.gov | CrimeSolutions
Department of Justice | Office of Justice Programs