Joan Petersilia is Professor of Criminology, Law and Society at the University of California, Irvine. The author of numerous books and a former president of the American Society of Criminology, she is a consultant to the United States Department of Justice and to many state and local agencies.

• Preface


• 1.: Introduction and Overview


• 2.: Who's Coming Home? A Profile of Returning Prisoners


• 3.: The Origins and Evolution of Modern Parole


• 4.: The Changing Nature of Parole Supervision and Services


• 5.: How We Help: Preparing Inmates for Release


• 6.: How We Hinder: Legal and Practical Barriers to Reintegration


• 7.: Revolving Door Justice: Inmate Release and Recidivism


• 8.: The Victim's Role in Prisoner Reentry


• 9.: What to Do? Reforming Parole and Reentry Practices


• 10.: Conclusions: When Punitive Policies Backfire


• Afterword

As the number of convicts in American society continues to grow, how their marginalization affects us all will be an increasingly pressing political and practical challenge. A broad and empirically informed resource, this book explores the critical dimensions of prisoner reentry and offers policy and program solutions. A new afterword from the author brings the book up-to-date with recent policies, trends, and the latest evidence on what works and what doesn't inparole and prisoner reentry programs.