Lost Time: Family Reintegration following a Youth Life Sentence

In this phenomenological study, we seek to understand how former juvenile lifers, now middle-aged adults, navigate lost time and life course disruption in the context of family reintegration. Nine men who were incarcerated for an average of 27 years participated in multiple in-depth interviews. Life course theory, social support theory, and ambiguous loss theory are drawn upon to provide insights into their experiences of family reintegration and forging new family relationships following lengthy periods of incarceration that began as a youth. The concept of “lost time” encompasses major themes, including missing large portions of family members’ life spans, experiencing losses and major transitions, facing barriers to reconnecting, and attempting to forge new family relationships to make up for long developmental delays. Viewed through a life course lens, this study provides insight into the far-reaching consequences of harsh sentencing for youths in the context of American mass incarceration.