Findings from our Literature Review

Having done the Literature review, we have found some interesting themes in the existing literature and feel like, apart from the issues brought up by our participants, these are areas that we can pay attention too as well.

We found that there are a few primary issues that affect ex-offenders around the world in general. These include their:

1. Ongoing financial problems

2. Health consequences that they face and;

3. Their “lost” identity and lifestyle

After a thorough review of existing literature, we found that many ex-offenders face barriers when it comes to finding employment. These barriers take the form of unfavorable policies against ex-offenders (Heller, 2006), lack of skill (Clear, 2001) and an inability stay away from their life of crime. (Hoizer, 2003)

This inability to find employment plunges these ex-offenders into even more financial problems, making them unable to escape the vicious cycle of crime and poverty. (Muñoz-Laboy et al,. 2014)

Another primary issue that ex-offenders face is their health conditions. Our literature review has shown that a significant percentage of ex-offender suffer from mental health issues. (Hartwell., et al, 2016). Studies have shown that stigma that they face is a large contributing factor to these mental health problems (Schnittker, 2007). They are also unable to find help for their mental health issues (Farell. et al, 2008), which ultimately leads to them either going back to their life of crime or losing the motivation to find a job, which once again renders them incapable of breaking free from the vicious cycle of crime and poverty. (Blessett and Pryor, 2013)

The third and final issue that we have identified, is the lost sense of belonging and lifestyles of ex-offenders. Due to heavy stigma that ex-offenders face, (Clear, 2001), many ex-offenders would return to their “cradle to prison pipeline” (Blessett and Pryor, 2013). They continue exposing themselves to other ex-offenders in their limited social circle who then lead them to “pro-criminal techniques and norms” (Morenoff and Harding, 2014). This again prevents them from breaking away from the vicious cycle of crime and poverty. (Blessett and Pryor, 2013)

As most of the studies were based in the United States, their findings may not be generalisable to Singapore’s context.

With different cultural backgrounds, government policies and support groups available, there are bound to be differences in the difficulties ex-offenders in Singapore face. Therefore, by using a bottom-up approach, our group intends to fill in this gap by examining the challenges ex-offenders in Singapore face and the possible solutions they put forth to improve the after incarceration-scene in Singapore.