Justice-Involved Women: Narratives, Marginalization, Identity and Community Reintegration

Women are the fastest growing sector of the incarcerated population. Community reentry is challenging for both men and women. However, pathways out of crime and reintegration have been found to be more complex for women. This article uses empowerment and narrative theories as conceptual frameworks and to contextualize the findings of this exploratory study. The findings indicate that self-identifying as persistent offender and/or career criminal, together with marginalization (ethnicity, poverty, and education) impact redemptive narratives of justice-involved women and their ability to create successful lives after incarceration. Using regression models, this study aimed to create a holistic model that integrated both micro and macro factors to better understand the complexities for community reintegration for justice-involved women. It sought to frame the experience of reintegration and the desistance process with a feminist lens, drawing greatly from community reentry literature in an era of mass incarceration.