After Life Imprisonment: Reentry in the Era of Mass Incarceration

by Marieke Liem, Robert J. Sampson (Foreword by)

Overview

One out of every ten prisoners in the United States is serving a life sentence—roughly 130,000 people. While some have been sentenced to life in prison without parole, the majority of prisoners serving ‘life’ will be released back into society. But what becomes of those people who reenter the everyday world after serving life in prison?

In After Life Imprisonment, Marieke Liem carefully examines the experiences of “lifers” upon release. Through interviews with over sixty homicide offenders sentenced to life but granted parole, Liem tracks those able to build a new life on the outside and those who were re-incarcerated. The interviews reveal prisoners’ reflections on being sentenced to life, as well as the challenges of employment, housing, and interpersonal relationships upon release. Liem explores the increase in handing out of life sentences, and specifically provides a basis for discussions of the goals, costs, and effects of long-term imprisonment, ultimately unpacking public policy and discourse surrounding long-term incarceration. A profound criminological examination, After Life Imprisonment reveals the untold, lived experiences of prisoners before and after their life sentences.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781479813261
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	09/20/2016
Series:	New Perspectives in Crime, Deviance, and Law , #13
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Marieke Liem is Senior Researcher and chair of the Violence Research Initiative at Leiden University and a Marie Curie Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Robert J. Sampson is Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences at Harvard University and Director of the Boston Area Research Initiative. He is the author of several books, including Great American City: Chicago and the Enduring Neighborhood Effect.

Table of Contents

Foreword Robert J. Sampson vii

Preface ix

1 Introduction 1

2 Understanding Desistance 11

3 The Context 23

4 Lives Spiraling out of Control 53

5 A Life Sentence 71

6 A Productive, Law-Abiding Citizen 97

7 Life after Life Imprisonment 119

8 Residual Effects of Imprisonment 155

9 Going Back 167

10 Staying Out 193

11 Reconsidering Lifer Reentry 205

Notes 225

References 243

Index 261

About the Author 267

Editorial Reviews

"Of interest to both criminological researchers and policymakers, After Life Imprisonment deserves careful reading.A fascinating work of original and creative research."

from the Foreword by Robert Sampson

"Considering the enormity of the sanction, it is remarkable how little we know about the lives of those who survive life imprisonment. With the powerful narratives in this ground-breaking book, Marieke Liem brings their perspectives into new light and asks & when is enough, enough? in terms of the punitive state."

Shadd Maruna

Considering the enormity of the sanction, it is remarkable how little we know about the lives of those who survive life imprisonment. With the powerful narratives in this ground-breaking book, Marieke Liem brings their perspectives into new light and asks ‘when is enough, enough?’ in terms of the punitive state."-Shadd Maruna,co-author of Making Good: How Ex-Convicts Reform and Rebuild Their Lives

"Marieke Liem’s new book,
After Life Imprisonment: Reentry in the Era of Mass Incarceration , is a fresh take on [prisoner reentry] that focuses on an understudied population: those serving a life sentence…[We] can think of “lifers” as canaries in the coal mine, since they are the group with the greatest exposure to the American experiment of mass incarceration and the abandonment of the rehabilitative ideal…The reentry process for these individuals is unique and their challenges are emblematic of the consequences of long-term incarceration."-Jamie F. Fader,Associate Professor and Graduate Chair of the Department of Criminal Justice, Temple University

“Of interest to both criminological researchers and policymakers, After Life Imprisonment
deserves careful reading….A fascinating work of original and creative research.”-from the Foreword by Robert Sampson,author of Great American City: Chicago and the Enduring Neighborhood Effect

From the Publisher