The United States is home to a large percentage of incarcerated individuals, a majority of whom re-offend upon release. Reentry efforts focus on lowering recidivism through policy and programming to help returning citizens successfully reintegrate into society and become productive, law abiding citizens. Although research on reentry has increased, the primary focus has been on urban reentry programming. Thus, the unique challenges that plague rural reentry, such as rural employment, housing, treatment and healthcare, transportation, and cultural qualities have been largely neglected. The current policy analysis used the rational model of policy analysis in which information on existing policy and programming was gathered via an extensive literature and policy review, then thoroughly described; problems within these current practices related to rural reentry were identified; and alternative strategies to amend policy to aid rural reentry were reported or recommended. Per the current analysis, most policies and programs are designed for, and examined in, urban communities. While there were several domains in which existing policy was, in fact, beneficial to rural returning citizens, all domains demonstrated need for improvement. A major limitation for the current analysis was the lack of research in rural communities. Future directions include examining reentry policy through the lens of specific offense-types for rural offenders, studying the effect of privatized prisons on U.S. rural reentry, and exploring reentry efforts in other countries as a model for change in the U.S. correctional system.

Title: “Where the Feral Things Are: An analysis of how the USDA and Department of the Interior’s Agencies Manage Feral Hogs, Horses and Burros” Author: Elizabeth Poczobut, MPA Candidate, Department of Political Science, Public Policy and International Affairs, College of Arts and Sciences, ETSU. Abstract: Many Americans cannot picture the “Wild West” without also picturing the majesty, liberty and mystique of wild horses roaming the plains. This deeply held cultural view of wild horses lead to the 1971 passage of the Wild, Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. This act tasked the Department of the Interior, and subsequently the Bureau of Land Management, with protecting wild horses and burros from “capture, branding, harassment, or death…as an integral part of the natural system of the public lands.” In 1971, there were approximately 25,000 free-roaming horses and burros on public land in the western United States. That number has grown to over 70,000 animals today, and the Bureau of Land Management alone spends approximately $81 million in taxpayer money every year to continue carrying out the management objectives set in 1971. Wild horses and burros are a uniquely protected and managed non-native species in the United States due to a variety of administrative, cultural and legal management constraints. They are protected from many forms of eradication and have virtually no natural predators. When feral horses are compared with other non-native species like wild hogs, the management inequalities are obvious. The United States Department of Agriculture estimates that there are 5 million feral hogs roaming the United States, and that they are responsible for about $1.5 million in damages to natural resources. Unlike feral horses, feral hogs are managed by a variety of means up to and including unrestricted eradication. This paper will analyze the non-native, mammal management practices of five major United States agencies and compare legislation, cultural expectations and administrative regulations of these two major feral species. The attempted resolutions and new management proposals are also discussed, and the potential implications of these are taken into consideration.