ASSOCIATE Magazine FBINAA Q3-2025

Continued from "Reentry Participation", on page 38

Research suggests that there are several factors that can shape reintegration. Broadly, individual and community factors help shape how one reintegrates into society. Individual factors can include physical and mental health, personal motivation, coping skills, and resilience. Community barriers can compound the issue by limiting access to needed resources such as health care, substance abuse treatment, and access to affordable hous ing (Mourao et al., 2025). Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory can provide a narrower lens for exploring the interaction of factors related to reentry. This theory notes five levels of an individual’s interaction with their social environment. • Intrapersonal factors – characteristics of an individual • Interpersonal factors – social networks • Institutional factors – social institutions/organizations with rules • Community factors – relationships between institutions and organizations • Public policies – laws (Mourao et al., 2025) Each of these factors affect the success of individual reintegra tion individually, interacting with each other to create a complex picture of reentry (Mourano et al., 2025). Typical reentry programs were created with two main goals: assistance and surveillance (Roberts, 2021). Assistance comes in the form of community aid and programming and surveillance typically stems from commu nity supervision probation and parole (Roberts, 2021). Research over the past 20 years has explored the factors most associated with successful reentry, finding that family and community rela tionships, job and housing stability, access to social services, and personal perceptions of life are the most impactful to favorable reintegration (Mourao et al., 2025). Reentry programs and efforts, then, should focus on providing assistance in these key areas. There are many avenues available to create better reentry procedures and assistance. One area, addressed prior to reentry, is in the improvement of access to programming and assistance in the prisons. Another area is in community response to offenders and better paths for community reintegration and assistance. A third area is improved law enforcement engagement with reentry programming as an additional initiative of community-led policing. COMMUNITY LED POLICING Community policing was borne out of the understanding that police-community relations were unsatisfactory (Tilley, 2012). Policing requires the cooperation of the community and the knowledge that the police are operating with the safety of the community in mind (Tilley, 2012). Problem-oriented policing was a subsequent idea geared to address the fact that demands on police have increased over time, creating issues that are difficult to properly address with limited resources and training. The goal of problem-oriented policing is to address the underlying issues of crime in a community (Tilley, 2012). The combination of these problem-oriented policing and cooperation of the community make up the well-known concept of community-led policing, largely thought to be a more proactive approach to policing efforts. One example of this effort was Operation Ceasefire in Bos ton, a thus-far successful effort aimed at reducing youth involve ment in organized gangs by utilizing the carrot and stick strategy to reach out to gang members (Roberts, 2021). Involving police in reentry and reintegration efforts works in collaboration with already established community-led policing initiatives to reduce recidivism. An increased collaborative effort between policing agencies, community supervision, and com

munity resources increases the success of an offender’s reentry and provides a reduction in recidivism rates. Opportunities for communication across agencies provides a better holistic ap proach towards reentry efforts and can assist law enforcement in intervening earlier when warning signs are noticed by other part ners. The International Association of Chiefs of Police conducted a study aimed at exploring the role of police in reentry efforts and noted that one of the main benefits of law enforcement participa tion in reentry efforts is ensuring that police are aware of who is returning to the community, new or strengthened partnerships with the community, a break in generational crime, an increase in stable families, and more (International Association of Chiefs of Police, 2007). Roberts (2021) noted several keys for successful police assistance in reentry efforts: • Police participation has to be well communicated to officers and supported by administration • Multi-agency and community partnerships are essential for successful programming • Pre-release meetings should be held with all collaborators for proper planning • Direct contact with the offender from police should occur regularly for monitoring • Police and community involved agencies should celebrate successes as positive reinforcement for prosocial behavior Police assistance in reentry efforts provides the surveillance that complements community resource efforts to ensure success ful reintegration by offenders into the community. Though com munity supervision has and continues to play an important role in surveillance of offenders post-release, police assistance creates more opportunities for seeing warning signs that individuals are returning to their past offending behaviors where intervention can help offenders before they recidivate. This collaborative ef fort can help lower recidivism rates, allowing for more proactive policing efforts. References Mourão, A., Sousa, M., Ferreira, M., Gonçalves, L., Caridade, S. M. M., & Cunha, O. C. S. (2025). Beyond Recidivism: A systematic review exploring comprehensive cri teria for successful reintegration after prison release. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 52(8), 1173-1199. https://doi.org/10.1177/00938548251335322 Tilley, N. (2012). Modern approaches to policing: community, problem-ori ented and intelligence-led. In T. Newburn (ed.), Handbook of policing (pp. 373-403). Willan. Durose, M. R. & Antenangeli, L. (2021). Recidivism of prisoners released in 34 states in 2012: A 5-year follow-up period (2012-2017). Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics Roberts, W.D. (2021). The police role in offender reentry programs [White Pa per]. The Bill Blackwood Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas. https:// hdl.handle.net/20.500.11875/4066 International Association of Chiefs of Police (2007). Building an offender reen try program: A guide for law enforcement. https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/ abstracts/building-offender-reentry-program-guide-law-enforcement

About the Author: Emily Stillwell is an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education Research Fellow assigned to the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit 5. She got her undergraduate degree in Clinical Psychology from East Tennessee State University and her master’s degree in forensic and legal psychology from Marymount Uni versity. Prior to her current position, she partnered with local law enforcement and has worked in corrections as a social worker.

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