Review of “Intersecting Lives: How Place Shapes Reentry”

Abstract

About 20 years ago, Joan Petersilia (2003) provided a comprehensive and impactful account of “when prisoners come home,” directing our attention to prisoner reentry and the barriers faced by those exiting correctional confinement. Corresponding with this push to consider how we help and hinder in the reentry process was a growing body of research exploring what Reuben Miller (2021) recently labeled “the afterlife of incarceration.” Research on the social consequences of incarceration continues to develop, documenting the myriad ways that incarceration serves to reinforce and create social inequalities. In Intersecting Lives: How Place Shapes Reentry, Andrea M. Leverentz directs our attention to the role of neighborhood and place in the reentry process. We already know a fair amount about the role of place in reentry and recidivism. We know incarcerated individuals disproportionately come from and return to disadvantaged places, that neighborhood quality often deteriorates after prison, that formerly incarcerated individuals move fairly frequently, and that neighborhoods are tied to the likelihood of recidivism. But what Leverentz sets out to show, and accomplishes in my opinion, is how individuals interact with places (and people) following incarceration. And it’s through this how that Leverentz both pushes the field forward and draws attention to the shortcomings of work relying on administrative and static neighborhood boundaries.