Through a qualitative study of the reintegration experiences of African American men, aged 18–25, we heed Fader and Traylor’s call for intersectional analyses of desistance and reentry. The current study draws from prior works to analyze the processes of “adultification” among economically disadvantaged African American young men and the impact of postincarceration employment challenges on masculine identity during young adulthood. We extend earlier research by incorporating the perspectives of family members, allowing for an in-depth examination of the processes that occur during the postrelease transition to adulthood and the complications that may emanate from families. Our findings allow us to explicate an intersectional reintegration process in light of early adultification processes, particularly relating to employment and family relationships. We highlight the overlay of adultification processes for disadvantaged youth, their subsequent offending, the multilayered and intersectional challenges of reintegration, and how they overcome these challenges. The implications for an intersectional approach to reentry are discussed.
AlexanderM. (2012). The new Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness. New York, NY: The New Press.
2.
AltschulerD. M.BrashR. (2004). Adolescent and teenage offenders confronting the challenges and opportunities of reentry. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 2, 72–87.
3.
AosS.MillerM.DrakeE. (2006). Evidence-based public policy options to reduce future prison construction, criminal justice costs, and crime rates. Olympia: Washington State Institute for Public Policy.
4.
ApelR.SweetenG. (2010). The impact of incarceration on employment during the transition to adulthood. Social problems, 57, 448–479.
5.
ArdittiJ. A.ParkmanT. (2011). Young men’s reentry after incarceration: A developmental paradox. Family Relations, 60, 205–220.
6.
ArnettJ. J. (2000). Emerging adulthood: A theory of development from the late teens through the twenties. American psychologist, 55, 469.
7.
BurtonL. (2007). Childhood adultification in economically disadvantaged families: A conceptual model. Family Relations, 56, 329–345.
8.
CaiolaC.DochertyS.RelfM.BarrosoJ. (2014). Using an intersectional approach to study the impact of social determinants of health for African-American mothers living with HIV. ANS. Advances in Nursing Science, 37, 287.
CollinsP. H. (2002). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. New York, NY: Routledge.
11.
CorbinJ.StraussA. (2014). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
12.
CrenshawK. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics. The University of Chicago Legal Forum, 140, 139–167.
13.
CrutchfieldR. D. (2014). Get a job: Labor markets, economic opportunity, and crime. New York: New York University Press.
14.
DanielsJ.CrumM.RamaswamyM.FreudenbergN. (2011). Creating REAL MEN: Description of an intervention to reduce drug use, HIV risk, and rearrest among young men returning to urban communities from jail. Health Promotion Practice, 12, 44–54.
15.
EdwardsK. (2014). Prison work: Transforming identity and reducing recidivism. In CrowM. S.SmyklaJ. O. (Eds.), Offender reentry: Rethinking criminology and criminal justice (pp. 51–74). Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett.
16.
FaderJ. J. (2013). Falling back: Incarceration and transitions to adulthood among urban youth. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
17.
FaderJ. J.TraylorL. L. (2015). Dealing with difference in desistance theory: The promise of intersectionality for new avenues of inquiry. Sociology Compass, 9, 247–260.
18.
FreudenbergN.RamaswamyM.DanielsJ.CrumM.OmpadD.VlahovD. (2010). Reducing drug use, HIV risk, and recidivism among young men leaving jail: Evaluation of the REAL MEN reentry program. Journal of Adolescent Health, 47, 448–455.
19.
FurstenbergF. F.RumbautR. G.SetterstenR. A.,Jr (2005). On the frontier of adulthood: Emerging themes and new directions. In SetterstenR. A.JrFurstenbergF. F.RumbautR. G. (Eds.), On the frontier of adulthood: Theory, research, and public policy (pp. 3–25). Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press.
20.
GlynnM. (2013). Black men, invisibility and crime: Towards a critical race theory of desistance (Vol. 6). New York, NY: Routledge.
21.
GoffmanA. (2015). On the run: Fugitive life in an American city. New York, NY: Picador.
22.
HjalmarssonR. (2008). Criminal justice involvement and high school completion. Journal of Urban Economics, 63, 613–630.
23.
HuebnerB. M. (2005). The effect of incarceration on marriage and work over the life course. Justice Quarterly, 22, 281–303.
24.
KupchikA. (2006). Judging juveniles: Prosecuting adolescents in adult and juvenile courts. New York: New York University Press.
25.
LaubJ. H.SampsonR. J. (1993). Turning points in the life course: Why change matters to the study of crime. Criminology, 31, 301–325.
26.
MalagonM. C.HuberL. P.VelezV. N. (2009). Our experiences, our methods: Using grounded theory to inform a critical race theory methodology. Seattle Journal for Social Justice, 8, 253.
27.
MearsD. P.TravisJ. (2004). Youth development and reentry. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 2, 3–20.
28.
MincyR. B. (2006). Black males left behind. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute.
29.
NelsonM.DeessP.AllenC. (1999). The first month out: Post-incarceration experiences in New York City. New York, NY: Vera Institute of Justice.
30.
NurseA. (2002). Fatherhood arrested: Parenting from within the juvenile justice system. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press.
31.
PagerD. (2003). The mark of a criminal record. American Journal of Sociology, 108, 937–975.
32.
PagerD. (2008). Marked: Race, crime, and finding work in an era of mass incarceration. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
33.
PagerD.QuillianL. (2005). Walking the talk? What employers say versus what they do. American Sociological Review, 70, 355–380.
34.
PagerD.WesternB.SugieN. (2009). Sequencing disadvantage: Barriers to employment facing young black and white men with criminal records. Annals of the American Academy of Political & Social Science, 623, 195–213.
35.
PayneY. A. (2011). Site of resilience: A reconceptualization of resiliency and resilience in street life–oriented Black men. Journal of Black Psychology, 37, 426–451.
36.
PeckD. (2010, 3). How a new jobless era will transform America. The Atlantic Monthly, 305, 42–56.
37.
PiqueroA. R.FarringtonD. P.BlumsteinA. (2003). The criminal career paradigm. Crime and Justice, 30, 359–506.
38.
PotterH. (2015). Intersectionality and criminology. New York, NY: Routledge.
39.
RichieB. E. (2001). Challenges incarcerated women face as they return to their communities: Findings from life history interviews. Crime & Delinquency, 47, 368–389.
40.
RiosV. M. (2011). Punished: Policing the lives of Black and Latino boys. New York: New York University Press.
41.
RoseD. R.ClearT. R. (2003). Incarceration, reentry, and social capital. In TravisJ.WaulM. (Eds.), Prisoners once removed: The impact of incarceration and reentry on children, families, and communities (pp. 189–232). Washington, D.C.: Urban Institute Press.
42.
RoyK.JonesN. (2014). Theorizing alternative pathways through adulthood: Unequal social arrangements in the lives of young disadvantaged men. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 2014, 1–9.
43.
RoyK.MessinaL.SmithJ.WatersD. (2014). Growing up as “man of the house”: Adultification and transition into adulthood for young men in economically disadvantaged families. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 2014, 55–72.
44.
SalvatoreC.TaniguchiT. A. (2012). Do social bonds matter for emerging adults?Deviant Behavior, 33, 738–756.
45.
SchoeniR. F.RossK. E. (2005). Material assistance from families during the transition to adulthood. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
46.
SheddC. (2015). Unequal city: Race, schools, and perceptions of injustice. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.
47.
SickmundM.PuzzancheraC. (2014). Juvenile offenders and victims: 2014 national report. Pittsburgh, PA: National Center for Juvenile Justice.
48.
SullivanM. L. (2004). Youth perspectives on the experience of reentry. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 2, 56–71.
49.
SumA.KhatiwadaI.McLaughlinJ.PalmaS. (2011). No country for young men: Deteriorating labor market prospects for low-skilled men in the United States. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 635, 24–55.
50.
TravisJ.WesternB.RedburnF. S. (2014). The growth of incarceration in the United States: Exploring causes and consequences. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
51.
UggenC.WakefieldS. (2005). Young adults reentering the community from the criminal justice system: The challenge. In OsgoodD. W.FosterE. M.FlanaganC.RuthG. (Eds.), On your own without a net: The transition to adulthood for vulnerable populations (pp. 114–144). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
52.
WacquantL. (2001). Deadly symbiosis: When ghetto and prison meet and mesh. Punishment & Society, 3, 95–133.
53.
WakefieldS.UggenC. (2010). Incarceration and stratification. Annual Review of Sociology, 36, 387–406.
54.
WardG. K. (2012). The black child-savers: Racial democracy and juvenile justice. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
55.
WesternB. (2006). Punishment and inequality in America. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.
56.
WesternB.PettitB. (2010). Incarceration & social inequality. Daedalus, 139, 8–19.
57.
WilsonW. J. (2011). When work disappears: The world of the new urban poor. New York, NY: Vintage.
58.
WilsonW. J. (2012). The truly disadvantaged: The inner city, the underclass, and public policy. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press
