Advancing Corrections Journal - Edition #20 - Scholarly Reflections on Core Considerations for Correctional Practice | Article 26 (ACJ20-A026)

Article 26: Beyond Tokenism: Integrating Convict Perspectives into Evidence-Based Correctional Policy and Practice (ACJ20-A026) by Jeffrey Ian Ross

https://doi.org/10.65264/OFPP8071

Abstract

Over the past three decades, fields such as education, medicine, social work, and criminology/criminal justice have increasingly acknowledged the value of integrating lived experience into knowledge production and professional practice. In corrections, this trend is exemplified by Convict Criminology, which emphasizes the voices and experiences of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people in scholarly research, mentorship, and activism. Yet, integrating these perspectives faces persistent challenges, including the conflation of practitioner experience with lived experience and the demand for robust empirical evidence to justify such approaches. This paper critically examines these challenges and outlines strategies for incorporating formerly incarcerated individuals into correctional program design and policy development. It presents evidence-based frameworks for utilizing their expertise in the corrections field, offers practical guidelines for mentorship programs that bridge academic research and practitioner knowledge, and suggests methods for overcoming professionals’ resistance within correctional institutions to such integration. By doing so, this paper contributes to the growing movement toward more humane, effective, and socially just correctional policy and practice.

Keywords: Convict Criminology; Convict Perspectives; Corrections Policy and Practice; Lived Experience; Mentorship

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Author

Jeffrey Ian Ross

Professor, University of Baltimore, United States

Jeffrey Ian Ross, Ph.D., is a Professor in the School of Criminal Justice, College of Public Affairs, and a Research Fellow in the Center for International and Comparative Law, and the Schaefer Center for Public Policy at the University of Baltimore. He has been a Visiting Professor at Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany, and the University of Padua, Italy. Ross is the author, co-author, editor, or co-editor of several books, including most recently INTRODUCTION TO CONVICT CRIMINOLOGY (2024). Ross is the co-founder of Convict Criminology and the former co-chair/chair of the Division of Critical Criminology and Social Justice (2014-2017) of the American Society of Criminology. In 2018, Ross was given the Hans W. Mattick Award, “for an individual who has made a distinguished contribution to the field of Criminology & Criminal Justice practice,” from the University of Illinois at Chicago. In 2020, he received the John Howard Award from the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences’ Division of Corrections. The award is the ACJS Corrections Section’s most prestigious award and was given because of his “outstanding research and service to the field of corrections.” In 2020, he was honored with the John Keith Irwin Distinguished Professor Award from the ASC Division of Convict Criminology. During the early 1980s, Jeff worked for almost four years in a correctional institution.

Advancing Corrections Journal - Edition #20 - Scholarly Reflections on Core Considerations for Correctional Practice | Article 26 (ACJ20-A026)

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