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Teaching beyond the Textbook: Integrating Formerly Incarcerated Individuals into Criminal Justice Learning Environments

Abstract Criminal justice educators must create a learning environment that explores issues of justice from diverse perspectives. While textbooks offer students a foundation of knowledge regarding the events and social outcomes that characterize our justice system, many textbooks exclude the experiences of formerly incarcerated individuals. To address this gap, we designed a panel activity that featured formerly incarcerated individuals to facilitate students' learning on the factors that contribute to incarceration. The purpose of this classroom engagement panel was to improve student's understanding of the social factors that increase the risk of criminogenic activity, explore the lived experiences of individuals who have navigated carceral settings, and provide insight into the challenges formerly incarcerated individuals experience with reintegration. We created a survey using a five-point Likert scale and qualitative questions to evaluate students' perceptions of the panel engagement. The results show the panel activity was highly informative and could be utilized as a valuable teaching tool.