An Ecological Approach to Improving Reentry Programs for Justice-Involved African American Men

Authors

Precious Skinner-Osei, Florida Atlantic UniversityFollow
Peter Claudius Osei, Florida Atlantic UniversityFollow

Keywords

Justice-involved African American men, incarceration, trauma-informed care, recidivism, reentry programs, ecological approach

Abstract

This article is a re-analysis of a previous study (please see https://doi.org/10.1080/10911359.2017.1402724). Considering the previous findings, in addition to the recent discussions around criminal justice reform, race, policing, and mental health in the United States, the data were reanalyzed using an updated version of QSR NVivo. The new findings revealed that reintegrating justice-involved African American men back into society requires reentry programs to utilize a different approach. Reentry programs must be constructed under the notion that the process involves multiple interrelated components that interact with larger systems outside the individual or organization's immediate control or organization advocating for them. Thus reentry programs should embrace an ecological approach by focusing not solely on the individual but also considering the environmental factors that may facilitate or inhibit their behavior. The authors' CARE model proposes that reentry programs implement four steps (i.e., collaboration, amend, reintegration, and empowerment) to successfully reunite justice-involved African American men with their families, the labor market, and their communities.

Author Bio

Dr. Precious Skinner-Osei is a program coordinator and instructor in the Phyllis and Harvey Sandler School of Social Work at Florida Atlantic University. Her research interests and publications focus on justice-involved African American men, trauma-informed care, justice-involved youth, parental incarceration, and reentry, recidivism, and reunification.

Peter Claudius Osei is a research assistant and Ph.D. student in the Graduate Neuroscience Training Program at Florida Atlantic University. His research focuses on visual perception as it relates to decision-making in complex and dynamic environments.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.25771/vh5p-9a34

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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