Christopher
Uggen and Sara Wakefield. “Young Adults
Reentering the Community from the Criminal Justice System: Challenges to
Adulthood.” [Chapter submitted for consideration in On Your Own Without a Net: The Transition to Adulthood for Vulnerable
Populations, edited by D. Wayne Osgood and Mike Foster 1/8/03]. [Under Review].
SUMMARY
If the transition to adulthood has
become more variable and more difficult for the general population, what are
the difficulties faced by adults who spend their late teens and early twenties
in prison or under correctional supervision? In this chapter we consider the
vulnerability and resilience of young adults who return to the community from
the criminal justice system across various domains of adjustment, including
work, family, civic life, mental health, and substance use. Can people “grow
up” in prison? Are correctional facilities and detention centers necessarily
“holding pens” in which no development can take place, or do they have the
potential to help their clients assume stable adult roles? We situate these
questions within research on crime over the life course and an emerging
literature on barriers to the assumption of adult roles after prison. The
chapter first sketches the criminal justice system that defines this group. We
then consider some life course concepts and theories to help guide our discussion
of the transition to adulthood for ex-prisoners, juxtaposing life course theory
with descriptive data on the status of state prison inmates aged 18-25 in the