We are looking forward to the American Society of Criminology’s annual meeting in Atlanta.
As you plan your travel, please consider attending the DCS sponsored panels. A special thanks to Colleen Berryessa for organizing the list, which is attached here. We will be hosting a social Wednesday evening and the breakfast meeting on Thursday morning.
Schedule: Division on Corrections and Sentencing (DCS) Sponsored Panels at the 2022 American Society of Criminology Meeting
1. Prisoners and Prisons (Panel 1 of 3)
Wed, Nov 16, 11:00am to 12:20pm, A703, Atrium Level
Three panels bring together state-of-the-art scholarship on prisoners and prison, highlighting a series of papers that will be published in a thematic volume of Crime and Justice in late 2022. Panel 1 features three papers highlighting different aspects of punishment and how incarceration disproportionally and structurally disadvantages people of ethnic and minority status. It also highlights how prison and punishment varies across different national contexts and throughout history. Paper 1 focuses on the history of race and imprisonment in the United States, highlighting the differential impact of incarceration on Black people. Paper 2 highlights the experiences of Indigenous prisoners in Canada – a group of people that is grossly overincarcerated. By drawing on empirical data from the University of Alberta Prison Project (UAPP), this paper argues against the common understanding of Canadian criminologists that Indigenized programming advances colonialism. Paper 3 demonstrates how differences in prisons are related to national and local histories, making it difficult to push for overall reforms unless supported by powerful political groups.
2. COVID-19 and Community Supervision: A Longitudinal Assessment of Challenges and Innovations
Wed, Nov 16, 11:00am to 12:20pm, International 4, International Level
Funded by the National Science Foundation (#2030344), this panel reports on findings from a longitudinal assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on community supervision practices and implementation of innovative response strategies. The goals of this project were to examine how community corrections agencies adapted traditional supervision practices and to understand the experience of community supervision officers during this unprecedented time. To achieve these goals, this project included surveys with directors of community supervision agencies and interviews with probation/parole officers over three waves: June-August 2020, October-January 2021, and October-April 2022. This panel highlights the biggest challenges and key innovations that supervision agencies experienced and developed over time in response to the global pandemic, including a discussion of the future of community supervision.
3. The Carceral Landscape: Living in and Possibly Reforming the U.S. Prison System
Wed, Nov 16, 11:00am to 12:20pm, A705, Atrium Level
This panel brings together a host of scholars and their work examining what it is like to navigate and possibly elicit reform-minded changes within the American penal context. The papers use a variety of methods and theoretical frameworks to deeply consider how things are and how they might, one day, be.
4. Enhancing the Prison Environment Alongside Incarcerated Women
Thu, Nov 17, 8:00am to 9:20am, L404, Lobby Level
The majority of research conducted on prisons uses data collected from administrative systems or from surveys and/or interviews with incarcerated persons. When it comes to data collection, people in prison are respondents, not participants. Few studies actively include those who are incarcerated in study design and data collection. This panel presents research from a study that collected data in a women’s prison. This study was unique because several of the women in the prison unit participated in designing the instrument, recruiting interviewees, and administering the interview. Specifically, the panel examines topics such as narratives of the “best selves,” trust, interactions among prisoners and staff, and interviewer bias. Overall, the panel examines how data collected with the involvement of incarcerated persons can cast unique light on existing problems in correctional research as well as create new avenues of inquiry.
5. Monetary Sanctions in Community Corrections: Findings from a Multi-State, Mixed Methods Study
Thu, Nov 17, 9:30am to 10:50am, International 5, International Level
This panel discusses findings from the Community Corrections Fines and Fees Study (CCFF), funded by Arnold Ventures. CCFF is a multi-state, mixed methods study that investigates the operation and impact of fines, fees, and restitution in probation and parole across six states (Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia). Many individuals under correctional control in the United States are on community supervision, and subject to monetary sanctions. Thus, we explore how these sanctions affect both supervision practices and outcomes. This collaborative study includes presentations from Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia. Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia teams will discuss findings from multi- site administrative data collected from court and probation agencies in each state. The Indiana team will present findings from an online survey of more than 700 community supervision officers in all six CCFF states. Findings will illustrate how collection and enforcement practices vary not only across states, but also within states, and highlight their correlation with officers’ attitudes on monetary sanctions. Additionally, findings will showcase how monetary sanctions influence supervision outcomes like absconding, revocation, and successful completion. Together, this panel informs a multifaceted understanding of how monetary sanctions shape organizational practices, policies, and experiences in community supervision.
6. Improving Juvenile Justice Through Theory and Research
Thu, Nov 17, 11:00am to 12:20pm, International 6, International Level
Over the past four decades, criminal justice scholars have made numerous efforts to enhance the treatment of adjudicated juveniles within the correctional system. In addition to an explicit focus on improving treatment and rehabilitation, practices have been implemented across the juvenile justice system to reduce the long-term effects of contact with the criminal justice system during adolescence. As demonstrated in existing literature, the practices derived from the integration of theory and research tend to provide the most favorable outcomes for adjudicated juveniles. Following suit, this panel is intended to enhance the treatment of adjudicated juveniles by developing innovative theoretical perspectives and enhancing research on the rehabilitation process within juvenile correctional agencies. Through these advancements, the panelists intend to provide policy implications that could benefit the juvenile justice system and, in particular, adjudicated juveniles.
7. Prisoners and Prisons (Panel 2 of 3)
Thu, Nov 17, 2:00pm to 3:20pm, A703, Atrium Level
Three panels bring together state-of-the-art scholarship on prisoners and prison, highlighting a series of papers that will be published in a thematic volume of Crime and Justice in late 2022.
Panel 2 features three papers focusing on an inside perspective on prison, with two of them highlighting international perspectives on prison scholarship and marginalized groups. Paper 1 describes the consequences of the COVID -19 pandemic on prisons in the United Kingdom, arguing that incarcerated people were subjected to a “lockdown” regime bordering on long-term solitary confinement in many jurisdictions. With the consequences of these severe conditions on mental and physical health only just emerging, the authors argue that the ramifications for prison reform are profound. By comparing three case studies situated in Canada, Mexico and Norway, Paper 2 urges us to consider a more global perspective when trying to understand the situation of women in prison and reminds us that how women experience prison is related to their circumstances outside of prison. Paper 3 speaks to how and why incarcerated people join or desist from gangs while incarcerated, while highlighting the short-comings of existing research pertaining to evidence-based gang desistance programs.
8. Prisoners and Prisons (Panel 3 of 3)
Thu, Nov 17, 3:30pm to 4:50pm, A703, Atrium Level
Three panels bring together state-of-the-art scholarship on prisoners and prison, highlighting a series of papers that will be published in a thematic volume of Crime and Justice in late 2022.
Panel 3 features three papers highlighting different aspects of prison life and the effects of incarceration and drug use and treatment on incarcerated people, families, and communities. Largely taking a U.S. focus, the authors foreground the profound immediate and long-term effects of incarceration on people and communities. Paper one, drawing on US and comparative research and data, examines the prevalence of drug use by people sentenced to imprisonment before, during, and after their prison terms and knowledge concerning the effectiveness of drug treatment during and after imprisonment. Paper two highlights the effects of incarceration on incarcerated people, including long-term economic and social ramifications. Paper three foregrounds the effects of incarceration on families and communities and highlights four conceptual and methodological problems with the state of scholarship to date.
9. Roundtable: Research on Families Impacted by Incarceration Thu, Nov 17, 5:00pm to 6:20pm, Area 1, Skyline Level
This roundtable will consist of researchers who will share their current or recent projects and findings related to families impacted by incarceration. Each researcher/group will share their research, including methodology and tips or examples. This will be followed by group discussion on interacting and recruiting participants, working WITH families, and recommendations for policy changes to support families. Specific findings and implications for research and policy during the COVID pandemic will also be discussed.
10. Psychological Mechanisms Underlying Lay Support for Criminal Sentencing Outcomes
Thu, Nov 17, 5:00pm to 6:20pm, A702, Atrium Level
This panel presents four experimental studies with samples of the U.S. public that investigate how various psychological processes influence lay support for criminal sentencing outcomes in cases involving different crime types and offender backgrounds. Paper 1 examines the extent to which the public expresses moral panic toward different types of drug offenders and how this panic may lead to support for punitive drug sentencing practices. Paper 2 investigates if and the extent to which preexisting “core beliefs” about myths on the potential benefits of drug sentencing predict public support for punitive drug sentencing, as well as whether these relationships vary for different types of drug crimes. Paper 3 examines whether dimensions of moral panic toward psychopathy help to explain the effects of psychopathic “labelling” on punishment support across sentencing, dangerousness, and treatment. Finally, Paper 4 examines how the age at which a defendant’s childhood abuse occurs may affect support for the length and objectives of his punishment, as well as
11. Beyond Recidivism: Alternative Methods for Examining Reentry
Fri, Nov 18, 11:00am to 12:20pm, A701, Atrium Level
The “what works” literature emphasizes the need for correctional programming and policies to reduce recidivism. While this focus is vital for developing effective treatment for incarcerated people and thereby preventing crime, other post-prison outcomes are also important for understanding how incarceration affects people after release. Therefore, the research presented in this panel examines how correctional experiences influence individuals’ health as well as their financial and social well-being during reentry.
12. Unpacking the Dynamics of Discretionary Release Decision-Making
Fri, Nov 18, 2:00pm to 3:20pm, A705, Atrium Level
Parole decision-making is once again in the spotlight as an avenue to undo decades of mass incarceration. This thematic panel explores different dimensions of parole decision-making across a range of incarcerated populations. The papers draw on a variety of data sources and methodologies across different states to highlight the dynamic context of discretionary-release decision-making.