ABSTRACT
This chapter examines issues associated with offender reentry in rural areas from the perspectives of three different sample groups in the criminal justice system: county parole/probation officers, offenders incarcerated in county institutions, and treatment staff. It explores the perceptions of challenges associated with returning offenders and the sample respondents' attitudes regarding programming for offenders including the services that should be available. The chapter begins by defining the multiple terms associated with the current study and then describes the study's three research questions, samples, design, measures, and procedures. It outlines the methodology used to examine rural reentry challenges from the perspectives of current inmates, probation/parole officers, and treatment staff. For the sample of treatment staff, demographic information was collected for description purposes and to compare the perceived reentry challenges within the treatment personnel sample and across the inmate and probation and parole samples.
