Operationalizing the Community Variable in Offender Reintegration:

Abstract

Despite the new emphasis on reintegration as a broader way of thinking about parole and aftercare, practice and policy remain narrowly focused on managing offender risks and, in some cases, providing services. The authors argue that the community role in reentry has not been clearly articulated and suggest the need for a less individualized, more naturalistic intervention theory. Core principles and practices associated with a restorative community justice model provide tools for strengthening neighborhood informal social control and social support as vital forms of social capital in communities, which is necessary to increase the likelihood of reintegration. Based on emerging empirical research that clarifies the importance of the community role, the authors conceptualize the community role in building relationships of support and control around the offender as a key neglected independent variable in reentry and as a dependent variable for intervention strategies based on community building.