Essay Example: Stigma and Reentry in the Community

Data refers to the statistics and facts that are collected together by the individuals mainly for referencing or analyzing. It can also be referred to as a set of values of the subjects concerning qualitative and quantitative variables. Collected data turns out to be information that is later used productively. With that in mind, our focus will be mainly to acquire data related to stigma within the population of a community and make an analysis.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Sample

Stigma refers to the disgrace that is associated with a particular person or a circumstance. Therefore when an individual talks of stigmatization it is where an individual is discriminated socially about his or her acts that distinguish them from other people of the community. Stigmatization is prone to all individuals, and one of an excellent example of his case is the individual who is joining the community back after serving jail time.

Most of the inmates are full of expectations of the community they will meet when they have done with their term. Most of these expectations are enormous for society to handle. Most researchers agree that they end up being disappointed to the community they which probably they were involved in destroying before they joined prison. That is most of the offenses that lead an individual to imprisonment; psychologically do not leave their mind easily. It means that people go on remembering what the person did before being sent to prison and only gets triggered when they physically meet. Most of the bad habits that one did to the community before being imprisoned like committing murder are remembered, and they likely result to anger among the offended people especially when they hear the person responsible got released. Therefore this is one of the significant factors that lead to the stigmatization of the people who are released from prison.

Another factor that has resulted in the stigmatization of the inmates who have finished their jail term is when they are not allowed to join some institution to further their studies or even acquire jobs. This incident, however, depends on the country whereby there is this thought among various people of the community that people with criminal charges are likely to cause trouble often. In some institutions, there are rules in the recruitment policies that do not allow employment or hiring of people with the past criminal record. With the research made by most of the researchers, there is an agreement that large firms may deny its employee if a record comes out to the public that he or she is an ex-convict. This is since they want to keep a clean record and ensure that have the trust of their customers. Apart from that, there is another research that illustrates most of the ex-prisoners stop their offenses by late twenties. Therefore due to this perception, most of them end up with no jobs falling into stigma.

There is the case where some prisoners know that even if they are released, they will not be accepted in the community. That is some of the prisoners do know that whatever they did is unforgivable and thus feel guilty of it. For instance, people leaving jail due to offenses that related them to drugs are barely recognized, and people take them as insane or not sober. Since most of the people associated with alcohol and drugs are likely to suffer depression, it, therefore, appears to the people that they are no reformed thus the isolation.

The issue of the harsh and hard environment that prisoners meet back is also another factor that leads to their stigmatization. From the researchers, it is clear that most of the ex-prisoners find it hard to adapt to the surrounding they meet leading to 67.7% of them getting back to prison. Through stigmatization of the ex-prisoners, it is quite clear how justice fails released, prisoners. Once an individual is released the government does not follow up to see whether he or she has a place to stay or not. This results in them being viewed as the sub-citizens and cannot perform like the general population. Due to this, therefore, most of them end up living in seclusion and adapting the habit of taking drugs. With this, they end up committing another crime which eventually lands them back to prison.

Most of the prisoners are high school dropouts which makes it hard for them to acquire jobs when they are let out. This makes up around 70% of the ex-prisoners. However in the case of the inmates who undergo education in the correctional center they do not get back into the prison when they are released. Therefore through this one gets to know the need for knowledge in all levels is necessary for prisons. That is an education in the jails allows prisoners to get to know what is happening in the outside world and how they will fit in when released. Apart from that, there is a situation on how individuals respond to the stigma. There are those that might develop a positive way of handling it, but there are those that are affected negatively ending up doing wrongful acts that may lead them to depression or falling back to prison.

Methodology

A methodology refers to the system of a method that an individual uses in a particular field study or an action that he or she is doing. Therefore, in this case, some of the techniques involved are the ones that allow researchers to create a bond with the respondent enabling him or her acquire the whole data. All this is done to enable the researcher to get to comprehend what the respondent feels allowing him or her find the way of expressing that feeling. For instance, in the sample, the individual ought to engage in a conversation with some ex-prisoners to create a room of knowing the experiences they go through and how they affect them.

One of the methods that are used in this case if the qualitative approach. It involves both qualitative and quantitative method (Lewis, 2015, p. 474). This form of strategy, however, allows the stakeholder to participate allowing him or her acquire all the relevant voices. That is it will enable the researcher to get to listen to the researched, to obtain more information and be able to make a clear judgment on how to represent the data. For instance matters on the ex-convict. To identify and be able to comprehend what they feel after they are released, one has to engage him or her to get the actual answers. It is through this that one is able is to know how these ex-prisoners are stigmatized and how it affects the environment they are released.

Data Analysis

This is a way of applying statistical or logical techniques systematically for one to be able to evaluate data. In qualitative data, however, the investigation revolves around information that does not have numbers. It is in the form of data that is recorded, written or anything that involves observation like pictures and videotapes. Through this one can say that it entails almost everything that is non-numeric. Collection and the way individual acquires the data may be different ranging from open-ended questions, interviews, and observation among other methods that one may choose to carry out the survey. However, after collection of data one of the first step of analyzing data is to ensure that the information is in a format that one can quickly go round. For instance, in our case we want to know where the data was collected, the period when the data was collected and the individual who gave you the information. When the work is arranged in such a manner people will be able to understand it easily.

Another way of data analysis is coming up with the purpose of collecting data. Since it is qualitative analysis, it will likely have information of all sorts (Liamputtong, 2013). Therefore it is necessary for a person researching to have clear questions on what his or her analysis entails. This is made so that one can be able to listen, read or watch keenly relating to the field is taken. For instance, our main aim for collecting the data among the prisoners was to identify what they went through when they were released. One that was clear was stigmatization which allowed us to look into how they are affected and various ways they face this act.

Apart from that one is required to have an overall view of the data that is at his or her disposal. One can attain this by passing through data from the beginning to the end without being interrupted. In this case, therefore, one is not entirely on the specific details of data but the whole matter of data. As a result of this, some of the questions that should be in one's mind are if there are emotions or the behaviors that come from the data. An excellent example in our case is where one learns that life after prison is not that easy as the people get stigmatized. This develops a sad feeling since he or she tends to try to fit into the shoes of the ex-convict.

Analyzing data also requires one to look at the bigger picture. In doing this one can develop on the data that he or she has, being able to have a clear interpretation of data. Concerning our research data collected, it looked upon to determine how stigma affect ex-prisoners, various ways on how they were stigmatized and also how justice failed when they released on from the prison.

Results

Therefore from the research, it is clear one of the ways to kill stigmatization among the ex-convicts is to ensure that there go on with their studies even in their correctional facilities. Through this, they will acquire the skills that will allow them to have jobs making them feel their purpose in the community.

Conclusion

From what one has learned above, he or she can conclude that to come up with the clear sense of data after collection it is necessary to make an analysis.

References

Lewis, S. (2015). Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches. Health Promotion Practice, 16(4), 473-475. doi:10.1177/1524839915580941

Liamputtong, P. (2013). Qualitative research methods.