Why Correctional Service Providers and Researchers Should Focus on Intersectionality and Recommendations to Get Started

Abstract

Across disciplines, there has been increased attention to understanding and addressing compounded oppression and marginalization associated with intersecting identities. We argue that involvement with the criminal justice system can, in itself, represent an identity (self-ascribed or not) that interplays with other demographic and systemic variables, making it more difficult for these clients to disconnect from the system. We offer our perspective on integrating conversations and tools focused on intersectionality into assessment and interventions that address criminogenic risks, recommendations for adopting a mixed-methods approach to researching intersectionality in correctional settings that better accounts for individual variability, as well as suggestions for advocacy, policy reform, and graduate-level training. With its emphasis on diversity and multiculturalism, health service psychology and related professions are uniquely poised to help correctional agencies move in a more inclusive direction that will likely improve client well-being and prosocial reengagement as well as reduce continued systemic oppression.

A test for implicit bias in discretionary criminal justice decisions.

“…Our findings are consistent with previous research showing that Black women been treated more harshly than White women across the criminal justice system-from interactions with the police through sentencing and corrections (e.g., Mann, 1989;van Wormer & Bartollas, 2022). Our findings provide empirical evidence that there is something unique about the unconscious biases people hold about Black women involved in the criminal justice system that is different than for Black men, which scholars studying intersectionality are just beginning to explore (e.g., Batashtini et al, 2022;Heilmann, 2021;Hester et al, 2020).…”

Missing Moments and Requesting Encouragement: The Experiences and Consequences of Having an Incarcerated Loved One

“…The changes needed in policy would have widespread impacts for incarcerated loved one's and their families, as well as the broader community. Finally, a focus on intersectionality when engaging with those incarcerated as well as advocating for services needed has implications for outcomes that adequately address the layering needs of those incarcerated and their loved ones (Batastini et al, 2022).…”

Open up and let us in: An introduction to the special issue on emerging issues in correctional policy, research, and practice.

“…The authors discuss a six-step process for applying the critical case file approach, which is intended to further delineate important structural disparities contributing to differing experiences of marginalized persons within correctional systems, so these disparities can be more adequately addressed. In line with increased attention on placing cultural, systemic, and intersectional considerations at the forefront of correctional research (Batastini et al, 2022), these authors provided researchers a pathway to view data obtained from file records through these lenses. This article is an essential read for putting culturally informed methodologies into practice.…”