AN EXPLORATION OF BARRIERS TO OFFENDER REINTEGRATION: PROBATION AND PRISON OFFICER OPINIONS VS PUBLIC OPINION

Stigmatization has been a major hindrance to successful reintegration of released offenders into the community primarily due to increased ostracism and anxiety of the wider community relative to recidivism and public security. This study, therefore, evaluated the position of the general public and probation and prison officers in driving successful reintegration of offenders by assessing their opinions and perceptions towards social reintegration to isolate barriers to successful social reintegration while reducing recidivism. A mixed-methods research guided by a pragmatist epistemological and ontological paradigm was conducted. In the process, a desktop search was carried out on online data repositories and journal databases to gather secondary quantitative and qualitative data, which was subjected to a systematic review.