ABSTRACT
The structural impediments to successful prisoner reintegration and desistance from crime have been researched extensively and are well known. However, the barriers caused by psychosocial strains and other psychological influences are less often studied. This chapter attempts to fill this gap by examining the potential long-term psychological effects of varying levels of contact with the criminal justice system. More specifically, this review of the extant literature discusses psychological effects related to the pains of imprisonment and post-imprisonment supervision, post-traumatic stress disorder influenced by negative incarceration experiences (trauma and victimization, solitary confinement), and perceptions of and responses to “ex-con” stigma in the community. This review argues that success for persons involved in the criminal justice system must expand beyond the myopic focus on recidivism to include the damaging psychological consequences that it may cause. The final sections of the chapter provide a summary of key findings, implications for policy and practice, and directions for future research about the long-term psychological effects of contact with the criminal justice system.
