Intersecting Lives

Few would disagree that neighborhood and place are important dimensions of reentry from prison, but we have a less clear sense of why or how they matter—and we rarely get a view of the lived social-interactional dynamics between people returning from incarceration and receiving communities. Intersecting Lives focuses on the processes by which neighborhood and place influence reentry experiences and how these shape community life. Through interviews and ethnographic observations, Andrea M. Leverentz brings readers into three very different Boston communities. These places and the interactions they foster shape reentry outcomes, including reoffending, surveillance, relationship formation, and access to opportunities. This book sheds crucial new light on the processes of reentry and desistance, tying them intimately to space and community, including dynamics around race, gender, gentrification, homelessness, and transportation.

Contents

Acknowledgments
Preface

Introduction 

1 • Criminalizing Disadvantage: Race, Class, Gender, and Reentry in Boston
2 • Bouncing and the Black Box of Reentry’s Neighborhood Effects
3 • Dorchester: Returning to a “High-Crime” Neighborhood
4 • The South End: Returning to a “Gentrified” Neighborhood 
5 • South Boston: Returning to a “White” Neighborhood 
6 • Small Towns, Poverty, and Addiction 

Conclusion 

Appendix A: Methods 
Appendix B: Research Participants 
Notes 
References 
Index