Commentary: Records,Relationships,and Reentries

Abstract

This commentary highlights some of the key lessons from the preceding articles by Sarah Lageson on online criminal histories and Robert Apel on cohabitation and marriage. To provide additional perspectives on institutions and families, it draws briefly on interview data from the Minnesota Exits and Entries Project, comparing the reentry experiences of 18- to 25-year-olds leaving prisons, jails, the armed forces, the juvenile justice system, foster care, drug treatment, and mental health facilities. While the prison surely ranks among the most salient institutions for U.S. families today and as such merits close scrutiny, there is also great benefit in “escaping prison”: considering how the justice system might productively import or borrow ideas and programs from other institutional domains. In collectively showing how specific punishment conditions affect family life, we can provide the research base needed to help institutions better support individuals and families.