Mat 133 Milestone One:Two:Three

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James Sena Mat 133 What is the financial cost of incarceration? February 10, 2022

Hundreds of thousands of people are incarcerated every year, for everything from minor infractions to felonies, depending on a multitude of factors. These factors can include everything from prior history, the state they are in, the judge and the severity of their crime. While it is very important to get crime off the streets and make sure that the offenders are punished for what they did, many people fail to look at one of the main issues that stem from a criminal conviction- the financial burden. For this reason, I have decided to look at the financial cost of a criminal conviction and spending time in jail as the topic for my research project. Primarily: What are the financial burdens of a criminal conviction on the offender? When it comes to criminals who have been paroled, or have been released from the prison system, there are a number of legal financial obligations that are required of them, many times as terms of their parole. “ Increased economic responsibilities result from many stages of the judicial process and include fines, restitution, supervision fees, and accrued child support.” (Pleggenkuhle) This means that the offender is responsible for legal fees, paying money back to their victims, paying for housing (if needed), paying the child support they were not able to pay while incarcerated, treatment programs, polygraphs (for sex offenders) etc. Along with these legal obligations, there are many other financial burdens that effect ex-inmates. Many employers will not employ people with a prior felony conviction, meaning that it may be incredibly hard for them to find a job that will support them and their families. If they are looking to rent a place to live, many landlords and rental companies require background checks, which can also hinder a convicted felons chances of getting approved. Having not had a job while incarcerated also leaves them with little to no savings, meaning that their chances of restarting life on a positive note can be difficult, especially if they had lost housing, jobs, vehicles and family support while in prison.

For the study I chose, the population being studied is in Missouri. “This research employed a purposive sample and derived from a population of officially sanctioned offenders under correctional supervision…The sample was comprised of persons who had scheduled report days or time in their prison schedule, but who fit our sample criteria of having experienced a recent release from prison or conviction and remained under correctional supervision.” (Pleggenkuhle) The sample consisted of 131 individuals who had been convicted of a felony, although the nature of those felonies varied. The average age of the individuals was 38 years old. Three quarters of them were on supervised parole. Two thirds of the individuals were white and the average length of incarceration was 5.5 years. Over half of the individuals had graduated from high school, although less than 50% of them were employed at the time of their convictions. The two research questions proposed in the study are as follows: Research Question 1: What is the scope and totality of LFOs for a sample of ex- offenders in a Midwest state? Research Question 2: How do LFOs impact structural, social, and emotional experiences post-conviction? While they did not give solid hypothesis’ for their questions, the author did explain the importance of these questions, as they help address some of the problems expected to arise with this study, which is stated in the authors words as “ The growing body of literature examining LFOs have important implications, yet much remains to be learned. Due to the variation in imposition of LFOs, by state, county, and jurisdiction, large-scale evaluations of imposition and scope remain difficult. Further, many studies have focused primarily on immediate and material outcomes of LFOs, many of which look at recidivism and fail to include other outcomes such as emotive states or relation to identity.” The research methods used in the study regarding the financial cost of incarceration were fairly straightforward. The hypothesis for the study was that, due to the many costs associated

with incarceration (not only the financial costs that come with lawyers), people who are released from prison have a very difficult time getting back on their feet and reintegrating into life after prison. Because of this, they are unable to restart their lives on a positive note and many of them fall back into the actions that led them to prison in the first place. To test their hypothesis, researchers interviewed 131 felony offenders from a prison system in Missouri who’d crimes ranged from sexual assault, gun and drug charges and personal property charges. They received their data by conducting in-depth interviews with these felons over a time period of 8 months, throughout seven different facilities (which included probation and parole offices, the prison, a community center and a housing facility). Supervising agents facilitated the recruitment of the sample . “ During the client meeting, they provided a short explanation of the research project and invited the individual to participate in the study at the completion of the appointment. We were unable to have direct contact with potential participants and only interacted with them after initial interest in participating. As a result, we do not have a specific rate of refusal, though most who were asked appeared enthusiastic about participation, and few were noted to have declined.” (Pleggenkuhle) According to the article, the interviews were semi-structured so that the interviewer knew what they were going to talk about, but allowed a lot of room for the interviewer to delve deeper into certain questions and answers, so they were able to get solid answers from the interviewees. It also states that a majority of the questions were based on the interviewee’s reintegration into life after prison and spoke a lot about housing, employment, family life, childcare, etc. The interviews lasted roughly an hour

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