Handbook on Lived Experience in the Justice System

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.

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.