Handbook on Lived Experience in the Justice System: (The ASC Division on Corrections & Sentencing Handbook Series)

This volume offers a diverse set of scholarly essays on the imaginative potential of corrections and sentencing research/practice that centers on the lived experience of the criminal legal system. The editors define “lived experience” broadly, encompassing the subjective ways in which corrections and sentencing directly or indirectly affect a person’s daily life. They employ a diverse and expansive conceptualization of lived experience; for example, people with lived experience can be directly involved in writing or conducting the research or may be indirectly involved where the submission is about a program that includes people with lived experience in its operations (e.g., credible messengers). The volume includes 60 chapters written by academics, practitioners, and lived experts who are currently or formerly system-impacted. Chapters include short reflection essays on the meaning of lived experience, state-of-the-knowledge reviews on topics related to lived experience, and more traditional empirical entries that highlight specific dimensions of lived experience. This groundbreaking and thought-provoking handbook will appeal to academics, practitioners, policymakers, advocates, and students seeking to understand the many ways in which corrections and sentencing directly or indirectly affect a person’s daily life. This is Volume 10 of The ASC Division on Corrections and Sentencing Handbook Series. The handbooks provide in-depth coverage of topical issues around sentencing and corrections for scholars, students, practitioners, and policymakers.

Table of Contents:
Section 1: The Big Picture of Lived Experience 1. What is More "Empirical" than Lived Experience? Jamie J. Fader 2. Mapping Lived Experience Contributions to Criminal Justice Gillian Buck 3. Interrogating the Epistemic Politics of Lived Experience: Navigating Identity, Co-optation, and Intersectionality in Contemporary Criminological and Criminal Legal Discourse Dwayne Antojado and Jessica Budd 4. Understanding Life Story and Narrative in Lived Experience Criminal Legal Scholarship Philip Mulvey, Leah Ouellet and Dan P. McAdams 5. When the Shoe Doesn’t Fit: A Reflection on ‘Lived Experience’ B. Williams and Mackenzie Niness 6. #Blackvoicesmatter: Defining “Lived-Experience” Through a Collaborative, Black Insider-Outsider Perspective Kadija Osei and Christopher Husbands Section 2: Considerations for Lived Experience and Research 7. Autoethnographic Notes on Role-Conflict in Lived Experience: The Case of the Formerly Incarcerated Researcher Carlos Sanchez and Andrew Davies 8. Navigating Lived Experiences: Professional Entanglements and the Role of Project Rebound Annika Yvette Anderson, Michael Griggs and Carolyn McAllister 9. Lived Experience Contributions to Reentry Research: Enhancing Context and Meaning Kristin Stainbrook, Janeen Buck Willison, Pamela Keye and Grant Burton 10. Incorporating Lived Experience in Research on Prisons David Pitts 11. Learned Strength Erik S. Maloney 12. Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun: The Struggle for Incarcerated Voices to be Heard Xavier Perez and Raul Dorado 13. The Power of Lived Experience Brian Jones and Jennifer Cobbina-Dungy 14. Elevating Lived Experience to Lived Expertise in Criminological Research Helen Skipper 15. Teaching Criminology as a Formerly Incarcerated Person: The Gift and the Curse Chris Miner 16. Amplifying Lived Experience: Transforming the Criminal Legal System Through Training and Technical Assistance Tameka V. Williams and Lauren Henderson 17. Peer Support During the Pandemic: Views from the Inside Gillian McNaull, Shadd Maruna, Mark Johnson and Dan Hutt Section 3: Lived Experience in Prison 18. Living Without Parole: Assessing Life Sentences by People Who Live It and People Who Study It Shaun Mills, Erik Maloney, Cedric Rue, Kevin A. Wright and Cassia Spohn 19. Putting the Person in the Picture: An Examination of the Lived Experience of Entry, Assimilation, and Adaptation on Death Row Robert Johnson, George T. Wilkerson and Moriah Sharpe 20. Invisible or Purposely Neglected? Lessons from the Lived Experience of an Incarcerated Woman Myrna Diaz 21. Lessons from Time: A Perspective about Sentencing, Education, and Hope Maria Montalvo 22. Hospice in Prison: Compassion in Action David Garlock, Dragana Derlic and Stuti Kokkalera 23. Carceral Abandonment: The Real Punishment of the Contemporary Prison Sentence Timothy C. Malone 24. Innate Health and Psychological Freedom in Prison: Narrative Co-Production of Transformative Self Following Childhood Trauma Jeanne L. Catherine-Gray, Beto Contreras and Derrick Mason 25. Prison Law Libraries and the Gender Gap in Exonerations Jill A. McCorkel and LaTonya Myers 26. Media and Identity Dynamics in German Prisons: A Study of Lived Experience and “Exogration” Aaron Bielejewski 27. Access Denied: Examining Control, Retribution, and Inequities in Prison Programming Vu Huynh, Tereza Trejbalová and Kimberly Kras 28. Liminal Identities: Critically Reflecting on Lived Experience as Former Prison Workers Nicole Patrie and William Schultz 29. "It Was a Risk, But It Was One I Was Willing to Take." The Experiences of Moving to be Closer to an Incarcerated Loved One Christopher P. Dum 30. The Lived Experiences of Families of People in Prison Janani Umamaheswar and Arden Richards-Karamarkovich Section 4: Peer-Led Programs and Credible Messengers 31. Walk Right Up to the Sun, Hand in Hand: The Power of Peer Mentorship in Facilitating the Successful Reentry of Former Lifers Christian L. Bolden, Jennifer Roberts, Eve Thomas and Sawyer Castle 32. Peer Support Services: A Comprehensive Review of the Corrections and Reentry Literature Hannah G. Cortina and Luke Muentner 33. Exploring the Promise of Resident-Led Programs in Prison: Perspectives from Incarcerated Resident-Leaders Ryan J. Schenk, William Davenport, Maurice Engelby, Ryan J. Krueger and Michael Hadnot 34. Reintegrating Back into the Community: Heeding the Wisdom of Post-Release Case Managers with Lived Experience Tim Goddard and Wendy Dressler 35. Art and Autonomy: The Value of Peer-Led Art Programming in Prison Alexis Klemm, Lizzette Peralta-Romero, Adrianne Acles and Jessica Coz 36. A Conversation with Kurt Danysh, Director of the Cumberland House: A Peer-Led Reentry Intervention for Older, Recently Incarcerated Men Divine Lipscomb, Kurt M. Danysh, Kristina Brant, Andrea R. Hazelwood and Derek A. Kreager 37. Empowering Change: Credible Messengers as Catalysts for Community Transformation Ryan Flaco Rising and Ricardo Zepeda 38. Hope and Help: Peer Support & Peer-Led Programs within Texas Prison Danielle S. Rudes, Aaron Flaherty, Daniel Dickerson, Bryce Kushmerick-McCune, Chelsey Narvey, Sydney Ingel, Wyatt Brown, Alexa Mata and Jaylyn Magana 39. DIY Education: System Affected Academics Building Educational Peer Support Networks Grant Tietjen and Daniel Kavish Section 5: Lived Experience and Education 40. A Motley Crew: The Synergy of Sharing Lived Experience: The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program® Lori Pompa 41. The Transformative Journey of Higher Education for Everyone in Prison Lyle C. May 42. Researching Within Community: The Necessity of CPAR Partnerships and the Value of Lived Experience in Prison Education and Reentry Research Nicole McKenna, Lalee Awad, Alessandra Milagros Early and Ebony Ruhland 43. The Value of Garden-based Participatory Environmental Science Projects in California Prisons Laci Gerhart, Heidi Ballard, Calliope Correia, Joshua Johnson, Ryan Meyer and Andrew Winn 44. You Are About to Witness the Strength of Street Knowledge: How Formerly Incarcerated Latine Students Utilize Their Lived Experience to Navigate Higher Education Joe Louis Hernandez and Kriistal Arpi Bilderbach 45. “C.O., Can I Get an Unlock?” An Inside Look at Prison Programming Silvia Castillo, Gabe Collins, ShannaRai Diaz, Yaritzel Guerrero-Montoya, Madison Hatfield, Vu Huynh, Martha Ponce, JohnMichael Price, Kimberly Kras and Alan Mobley 46. “I Am in Jail on Tuesdays”: An Insider-Outsider Perspective on Institutional Education Jennifer Lanterman Section 6: Lived Experience and Re(integration) 47. To Tell or Not To Tell? Justice-Impacted Individuals’ Use of Concealment/ Disclosure as a Stigma-Management Strategy Thomas P. LeBel 48. Professionally Formerly Incarcerated Enrique Olivares-Pelayo 49. Credible but Vulnerable: Navigating the Challenges and Risks in Community Violence Prevention Peter Simonsson, Quinzel Tomoney, Peter Twigg, ShaKia Fudge, Caterina Roman and Shadd Maruna 50. Desistance and Masculinities: Being Oneself Post Incarceration Ruth Utnage and Rosemary Ricciardelli 51. Simulating the Lived Experience Alesa Liles, Stacy Moak and Dena Dickerson 52. The Meaning and Importance of Lived Experience: Insights from the Lenses of Two People on Parole in New Jersey Stephon Whitley, Audrey Wilson and Nathan W. Link 53. Beyond the Verdict: Navigating the Long-Term Consequences of Wrongful Convictions on Reentry, Employment, and Identity Danielle M. Thomas, Jessica Grosholz and Walter Dunn 54. Reflections on What Lived Experience Means for a Correctional Unit Officer and Justice-Involved Individual: The Genesis of Empatherapy and Peer Supporter Academy in Singapore Prison Service Chua Yong An and Andrew Joseph Ng Section 7: Lived Experience and Engagement in Criminal Legal System Reform 55. Experience for Justice: How Lived Experience is Changing Ideas about Criminal Justice and Criminology in the UK E4J Collective: Scott Kidd, Rod Earle, Laura Sheffield-Kidd, Gillian Buck, Shadd Maruna, Paula Harriott, Danica Darley, Lucy Campbell, Max Dennehy, Fleur Riley and Donna Arrondelle 56. Why Convict Criminology Matters Jeffrey Ian Ross 57. Voices from Within: Using Lived Experience to Reform Laws, Policies, and Reentry Requirements for Individuals Convicted of a Sex Offense (ICSO) Jaclyn Truman, Meghan M. Mitchell, Madeline Lewis and Mathew Neary 58. The Traits They Bring: How Jurors with a Carceral History Envisage Jury Service James M. Binnall and Sonali Chakravarti 59. Lived Experience Can Inform Reentry Programs Inside of Prison for Individuals Sentenced to Life Brittany Ripper, Lewis Whitmire, Phillip Vance Smith II, Moriah Sharpe, Rachel Leopold and Robert Johnson 60. Challenging the Routine of Incarceration for Young Black Men in Philadelphia Yah'aair Black, Rodney Gardner, Neshaun Sephes, James Aye, Kendra Van de Water, Kadelia George, Chloe Sierka, Autumn Talley and Caterina G. Roman

About the Author :
Christopher P. Dum is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at Kent State University. He is the author of the book, Exiled in America: Life on the Margins in a Residential Motel, published by Columbia University Press. His research examines issues around prison, reentry, and public opinion, and has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the Ohio Attorney General. Dr. Dum has appeared on NPR’s Marketplace, as well as the Doc Project on CBC. In 2016, he co-founded the ID13 Prison Literacy Project, which works to amplify the voices of incarcerated writers. Jamie J. Fader is a Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at Temple University. She is the author of On Shifting Ground: Constructing Masculinity on the Margins (Univ. of California Press, 2024) and Falling Back: Incarceration and Transitions to Adulthood among Urban Youth (Rutgers University Press, 2013), which won the 2016 Hindelang Award for best book in the field. Dr. Fader’s research interests include the lived experiences of members of vulnerable groups in the criminal legal system, particularly adolescents and young adults. She is the founder of the Division of Qualitative Research of the American Society of Criminology. Thomas P. LeBel, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice & Criminology at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee’s Helen Bader School of Social Welfare. Dr. LeBel has lived experience with the criminal legal system and is the author or co-author of numerous publications about prisoner reintegration, desistance from crime, the stigma of incarceration, and incarcerated women with substance use disorders. Kevin A. Wright is an Associate Professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice and is the Director of the Center for Correctional Solutions at Arizona State University. His work focuses on enhancing the lives of people living and working in the correctional system through research, education, and community engagement. He is co-author of Imprisoned Minds: Lost Boys, Trapped Men, and Solutions from Within the Prison (Rutgers University Press, 2025), lead-authored by a man incarcerated for life.