Faith-based efforts to improve prisoner reentry: Assessing the logic and evidence

Abstract

Prisoner reentry constitutes one of the central criminal justice challenges confronting U.S. society. Coinciding with this emerging social problem has been increased policymaker interest in faith-based programs to improve outcomes for vulnerable populations, including released prisoners. Critical questions about the nature and effects of faith-based reentry programs remain largely unaddressed, however: (1) What is a “faith-based” program? (2) How does or could such a program reduce recidivism and improve other behavioral outcomes among released offenders? (3) What is the evidence concerning the impacts of faith-based reentry programs? (4) What are critical implementation issues that may affect the operations and impacts of such programs? This article examines each of these questions and identifies critical conceptual, theoretical, and research gaps in the literature. It highlights that the term “faith-based” is used inconsistently, that the precise causal relationship, if any, between various measures of faith and crime remains in question, and that few rigorous evaluations of faith-based reentry programs exist. It then discusses recommendations for improving knowledge and practice.

Introduction

Over the past decade, prisoner reentry has become a pressing social problem and policy challenge nationally, with over 600,000 inmates released from state and federal prisons annually (Harrison and Karberg, 2004, Lynch and Sabol, 2001, Petersilia, 2003, Travis et al., 2001). If juvenile offenders are included, approximately 700,000 individuals with educational, vocational, physical, mental health, and drug treatment needs enter communities across the country each year (Mears & Travis, 2004). The magnitude of this challenge is especially sobering given that prison populations continue to increase (Harrison & Beck, 2005). It is all the more sobering given that more than two-thirds of released prisoners will likely be rearrested within three years of release, and over half will be reincarcerated, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (Langan & Levin, 2002).

While prison populations have burgeoned, policymakers—including current and past presidential administrations, Democratic and Republican alike—increasingly have expressed interest in faith-based programs to ameliorate a range of social problems (Chaves, 2004, Harris et al., 2005, Hodge and Pittman, 2003, Kramer et al., 2005, Kramer et al., 2002, McDaniel et al., 2005, O'Connor and Pallone, 2002). Not surprisingly, there also has been increased interest in faith-based efforts to improve reentry outcomes for released prisoners (Johnson and Larson, 2003, Kerley et al., 2005, O'Connor, 2004, O'Connor, 2005, Roman et al., 2004). Despite this interest, critical questions remain largely unaddressed: (1) What is a “faith-based” program? (2) How does or could such a program reduce recidivism and improve other behavioral outcomes among released offenders? (3) What is the evidence concerning the impacts of faith-based reentry programs? (4) What are critical implementation issues that may affect the operations and impacts of such programs?

Answers to such questions can help inform criminological theory and faith-based efforts to improve outcomes among thousands of inmates released from prisons each year. For criminologists, research on faith-based programs provides an opportunity to develop more nuanced theories of the relationship between “faith” and crime. Perhaps, for example, certain conceptualizations, and thus measurements, of faith yield a stronger relationship with crime and recidivism than others. Similarly, the influence of faith on crime may be mediated or moderated by other traditional crime variables, or, conversely, faith may mediate or moderate the influence of such variables. For policymakers and practitioners, theoretical advances can provide the groundwork for developing more coherent and consistent programs, including identification of the critical dimensions that these programs must address to be effective. Research shows that programs with strong theoretical foundations tend to produce better outcomes (Rossi, Freeman, & Lipsey, 2003), and so such advances assume particular importance.

Without theoretical advances, backed by empirical research, policymakers and practitioners may continue to advocate for faith-based programs, but with little understanding about how best to structure such programs so that they have the greatest likelihood of being effective. Answers to the questions are also important more generally because they can provide the justification for supporting (or not) faith-based programs. If, for example, research shows that reentry programs can effectively reduce recidivism, a stronger argument in support of them can be made. Not least, by systematically identifying critical implementation issues, faith-based programs can increase the likelihood that they will achieve their desired goals.

This article addresses each of these four questions and then explores several critical policy and research implications raised by the answers. The central argument is that better definitions of “faith-based” programs are needed; that the causal logic of such programs needs to be better developed both to facilitate appropriate evaluation efforts and to improve theory, research, and practice; that considerably more basic and applied research is needed to place support for faith-based programs on solid scientific footing; and that a range of implementation issues must be addressed to increase the chances that faith-based programs can in fact be effective. Work along these lines not only can improve theory and practice, but also can facilitate empirically-grounded debates about the merits of faith-based programs.