“I Can’t Depend on No Reentry Program!”

Abstract

This study uses a street participatory action research (Street PAR) design to recruit and train 15 local city residents, formerly of the streets and/or criminal justice system, to document the lived experiences of street-identified Black men and women (ages 18–35) in the Eastside and Southbridge neighborhoods of Wilmington, Delaware. Based on 210 surveys, 18 individual interviews, and one group interview (n = 4), we focus on answering the following two research questions: To what extent do street-identified Black men value traditional reentry services? What adaptive reentry strategies were employed by the men to prevent recidivism? Participants believed that felony convictions and parole violations, as well as unemployment and poor housing options, resulted from a racialized structural violence complex, and that a willingness to endure low-wage employment and economic poverty was required to survive this complex.