Date of Award

5-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School

College for Community Health

Department/Program

Family Science and Human Development

Thesis Sponsor/Dissertation Chair/Project Chair

Jason M. Williams

Committee Member

Brad van Eeden-Moorefield

Committee Member

Jennifer Brown Urban

Committee Member

Michael B. Mitchell

Abstract

This qualitative study explores how returning citizens experience incarceration and reentry across the life course, focusing on the interplay of structural conditions, relational contexts, and human agency. Guided by Life Course Theory (LCT), reentry is conceptualized not as a discrete post-release transition but as a developmental process shaped by cumulative disadvantage, institutional stratification, and linked lives. Data were drawn from in-depth semi-structured interviews with formerly incarcerated adults in the northeastern United States and analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Findings show that incarceration and reentry are experienced as relational and multigenerational processes embedded within family systems and constrained opportunity structures, rather than as isolated individual events. Participants described how early trauma, poverty, and racialized institutional contact accumulated over time to shape pathways into justice involvement. Narratives also revealed how participants used agency in challenging circumstances to reconstruct perceptions of themselves, work toward building stable lives, and care for family and loved ones. Family relationships functioned as both support and strain, highlighting the centrality of linked lives, while participants experienced both external role transitions and internal cognitive shifts. By centering participant voice, this study advances a holistic application of LCT integrating structural inequality, relational dynamics, and personal transformation in reentry scholarship. Findings challenge deficit-oriented paradigms by showing that lawful stability is a cumulative process within unequal systems. In addition, findings call for reentry policies and practices that address structural barriers and strengthen family supports.

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