Toward the Betterment of Prisoners’ Lives: The Role of Social Science Research-Based Knowledge and Evidence

Abstract

Social science researchers have been studying prisoners for nearly 100 years. While most of this work has been motivated by traditional academic objectives like generating knowledge, applied research that aims to solve practical problems has become increasingly more common in recent decades. The main reason for the growth in applied research is that the numbers of people who have been imprisoned, have then reentered society after confinement, and have reoffended upon release have all exponentially increased in the United States over the past four decades, resulting in an unprecedented era of mass incarceration that has introduced innumerable struggles, harms, and pains into the lives of millions of people. The practical problems that now need to be addressed are legion, and social science research can play a central role in their resolution. Accordingly, this chapter presents synopses of academic and applied social science research with prisoners, with an emphasis on how these forms of research can be used together to inform efforts toward the improvement of prisoners’ lives. An evidence-based public health approach is ultimately endorsed, with prisoner research playing an integral role by both identifying the nature of the problems and by providing the evidence that guides their solutions.