Christy A. Visher: Ex-Con Expert

In December of 2013, United States state and federal prisons held 1,574,700 people, which was an increase of 4,300 prisoners from 2012. Since the decrease in incarcerated persons in 2009, this is the first increase. 716 out of every 100,000 people in the United States are currently incarcerated. More than 10.2 million people are held in penal institutions all over the world, and almost half of them are in the United States. The justice system handles these criminals, but what happens when they are released from prison? How are they assimilated successfully back into U.S. society, if they are at all? Among the people focusing on this issue is Christy A. Visher, currently a professor in the University of Delaware’s Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of Delaware and Director of the Center for Drug and Alcohol Studies within that department. According to her 2014 curriculum vitae, she has over 25 years of experience with policy research on crime and justice issues. Her main research focuses are criminal careers, communities and crime, criminal justice evaluation, violence, and substance abuse. Her published works include numerous articles on youthful offending, the arrest process, crime prevention strategies, incapacitation, criminal justice system drug testing, and prisoner reentry. She attended Trinity University and Indiana University, obtained her Ph.D. in Sociology in 1982. She has worked at the National Institute of Justice at the U.S. Department of Justice. Her research has appeared in numerous scholarly journals such as Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, Journal of Quantitative Criminology, American Sociological Review, and Social Problems. Much of Dr. Visher’s research has focused on issues of prison reentry into society upon parole or release from prison.

She is a principle writer and researcher in the field of criminology, justice, and drug and alcohol abuse among ex-convicts and youth offenders. Her recently published works include an article with Jeremy Travis, “Life on the Outside: Returning Home after Incarceration” (2011); “Prisoner Reentry in the Decade of the Twenty-first Century” (2010), and “Reducing Intimate Partner Violence: An Evaluation of a Comprehensive Justice System-Community Collaboration” (2008). “Life on the Outside” is a particularly scathing indictment of the current prison system, although some issues have changed since it was published in 2011. Principle among these is the decriminalization of cannabis, which has resulted in the release of numerous non-violent offenders from prisons in states where cannabis has been legalized. It is expected that due to these new laws, the number of non-violent prisoners will continue to decline. Carson and Golinelli found that 2009 was the first year in which incarceration numbers had begun to decline since 1978, with 637,400 prisoners being released that year. Visher’s sociological research into the reasons for high unemployment rates, a lack of housing, and alcohol and drug abuse which lead to recidivism and ultimately re-incarceration is an attempt to solve a very pressing and unavoidable issue facing United States society today. These ex-convicts have served their time for their crimes, many of them non-violent. However, our society currently views cannabis possession as equal to homicide once a prisoner is released from prison. Is it fair to treat a murderer the same as a casual cannabis smoker? Visher is aware of the injustice of this presumption, and has been working for 25 years to dispel it.

Visher’s research spans the multiple issues that affect prisoners during re-integration into society, including drug and alcohol abuse problems, the impact of family and marriage, and special cases of serious and violent offender re-integration. Her current work includes “Decide Your Time: Testing Deterrence Theory’s Certainty and Celerity Effects on Substance-using Probationers” and “Workforce Development Program: A Pilot Study of its Impact in the U.S. Probation Office, District of Delaware” (Visher, 2011).