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Offenders and Post-Release Jobs
Abstract
Nonviolent adult repeat offenders between the ages of 18 and 35 face nearly insurmountable obstacles to successful reintegration into dominant culture. Upon release from prison ex-offenders receive an average of 100-$500 from the Federal Bureau of Prisons to aid their transition back into their communities. As many of them search for legitimate work opportunities, they must deal with the stigma attached to a criminal record and legally enforced employment restrictions barring them from working in several occupations. In addition, most states and the federal government prohibit ex-offenders from accessing public aid funds or financial assistance for school. Finally, many released inmates find they are forced to live in isolated, impoverished communities where there are few job opportunities. In this essay, we analyze secondary data on recidivism and employability for ex-offenders. A review of the literature and history on ex-offender vocational guidance and placement programs documents contrasting views regarding their success and failures, and the reasons for recidivism. We conclude by arguing that sustainable employment is critical to the success of a supervision program, and an ex-offender's avoidance of recidivism. Therefore, resourceful vocational guidance and assistance programs that include financial assistance and follow-up services are more effective than incarceration for some offenders in deterring perpetual recidivism.
... Ex-offenders must deal with the prejudicial attitudes of potential employers (Albright & Denq, 1996;Pager & Quillian, 2005;Pogarsky, 2006), the stigma attached to a criminal record (J. Brown, 2004;Harrison & Schehr, 2004), and legally enforced employment restrictions that make them ineligible for certain occupations (J. Brown, 2004;Harrison & Schehr, 2004). ...
... Brown, 2004;Harrison & Schehr, 2004), and legally enforced employment restrictions that make them ineligible for certain occupations (J. Brown, 2004;Harrison & Schehr, 2004). For example, Finn and Fontaine (1985) asked undergraduate students to rank order fictitious job applicants. ...
... Another obstacle to finding gainful employment is the legal barring of individuals from a number of occupations due to their criminal pasts (J. Brown, 2004;Harding, 2003;Harrison & Schehr, 2004). Occupational policies and code licensing requirements may explicitly exclude ex-offenders (and possibly even individuals with a record of arrest) or may indirectly exclude them by specifying that employees need to have 'good moral character' (Harris, 2005). ...
Stigma-by-association usually refers to the prejudice that can result from an individual interacting with a stigmatized person. This chapter extends the concept to include the stigma resulting from negative association with the Criminal Justice System. In particular, stigma related to incarceration--whether the individual is innocent (i.e., wrongly convicted) or not--is examined. Literature discussing the prejudice associated with the prison experience, regardless of innocence or guilt, is reviewed. Prison stigma can impede an individual's ability to find affordable housing and adequate employment, which are challenges faced by ex-offenders and exonerees when trying to reintegrate into society. Thus, to facilitate reintegration and to reduce recidivism, it is important to counter the prejudice associated with prison. Possibilities for reducing this stigma are discussed.
... Given the aforementioned overlap between IPV and substance abuse, taken together with the IPV and substance abuse often involving law-breaking behaviors (e.g., assault, possession of a controlled substance), perpetrators of IPV are likely to interact with or encounter the criminal justice system. Criminal justice involvement may impart several service needs that manifest during release back into the community due to the negative impact of incarceration on families (Travis, McBridge, & Solomon, 2006), housing (Graffam, Shinkfield, Lavelle, & McPherson, 2005), drug treatment (Deren et al., 2001) employment (Harrison & Schehr, 2004) and health care (Freudenberg, Daniels, Crum, Perkins, & Richie, 2005). Studies investigating perceived needs of recently released offenders have found that establishing stable housing, obtaining employment and addressing educational needs were key necessities for successful reintegration (Graffam et al., 2005). ...
... Studies investigating perceived needs of recently released offenders have found that establishing stable housing, obtaining employment and addressing educational needs were key necessities for successful reintegration (Graffam et al., 2005). Stigma associated with having a criminal record can become a barrier to employment (Harrison & Schehr, 2004). Difficulties establishing stable employment can often exacerbate familial strain, which may already be compromised by extended absences of men due to long incarceration stays. ...
... Thus, the current study may broaden the base from which knowledge about perpetrators of male-to-female IPV is derived. Furthermore, although the relationship between service needs and criminal justice involvement has been demonstrated in many studies (Epperson, El-Bassel, Gilbert, Orellana, & Chang, 2008;Graffam et al., 2005;Harrison & Schehr, 2004), research focusing on the needs among released perpetrators of IPV has been scarce. ...
Perpetrators of male-to-female intimate partner violence (IPV) may be likely to have multiple service needs, the extent of which may vary with respect to criminal justice involvement. The salience of the criminal justice system and the potential impact on service needs due to arrest and incarceration is underscored given the association between substance use and IPV. This study utilized a sample of men in methadone treatment who perpetrated male-to-female IPV in order to examine associations between criminal justice involvement and perceived additional service need(s). Results indicate that the likelihood of having a service need(s) significantly increased as time since most recent arrest or incarceration decreased. These findings highlight the need and potential benefit that can be derived from greater coordination amongst the criminal justice, IPV prevention, and drug treatment systems and service providers.
... Multiple studies have supported a range of factors that are associated with successful community reintegration fol-lowing release from a correctional facility. This includes, but is not limited to, employment (Bahr et al., 2010;Berg & Huebner, 2011;Harrison & Schehr, 2004;Lockwood et al., 2012;Rhodes, 2008;Savolainen, 2009;Uggen & Staff, 2001), volunteering (Burnett & Maruna, 2006;Taylor, 2008), social ties (Martinez & Christian, 2009;Mills & Codd, 2008;Naser & La Vigne, 2006), intervention programs (Theurer & Lovell, 2008;Ventura et al., 1998), the person's attitudes and goals (Kenemore & Roldan, 2005;Lloyd & Serin, 2012;Serin & Lloyd, 2009), and religion (Baier & Wright, 2001;Farrell, 2009;Giordano et al., 2008;Kenemore & Roldan 2005;Schroeder & Frana, 2009;Stark, 1996). ...
... A review of literature regarding sustainable employment and its critical importance to postrelease success indicates that, generally, elevated recidivism rates are often due to a lack of necessary tools to live independently and maintain employment (Harrison & Schehr, 2004). When provided with such tools, people are likely to be more successful in maintaining employment and reintegrating back into the community without reoffending. ...
Considerable research has focused on factors that put individuals at risk for recidivism after their release from incarceration. While recent research has increased the focus on protective factors and resilience, the experiences of people with mental health issues who successfully reintegrate into the community are not well-understood. The present study was conducted to determine which positive factors are implicated in the successful reintegration of people with mental health issues. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with four male former federal inmates on supervised release in Canada. The interviewees were nominated by staff who knew them to have previously been diagnosed with a mental disorder and perceived them to be doing well in the community. Volunteering and social support were found to be of the greatest importance in their successful outcomes. Additionally, all interviewees had access to mental health services, which likely influenced their success.
... In this way, we can have one time, second time, or multiple offenders and recidivism becomes an index of criminality. Recidivism also serves as an indicator of the effectiveness of the in-prison re-education, re-training, and counseling interventions as well as the suitability and success of the outof-prison re-integration programs (LeClair 1988;Sherman et al. 1998;Harrison and Schehr 2004;Aba-Afari 2011). Studies by Lipsey (1992) and Home Office Research Study 171 (1997) found high numbers of reoffending and reconviction among young convicts who did not receive rehabilitation intervention while in prison or in the community compared to those who received such help. ...
... The many available intervention programs that appear feasible for use in Brunei to reduce the problem include the Sex Offender Treatment Program (SOTP) (Ho and Ross (2012) and crime prevention strategies (Harrower 2001). Re-integration problems such as labeling and stigma as well as access to education, training, and employment also need to be addressed (LeClair 1988;Sherman et al. 1998;Harrison and Schehr 2004;Aba-Afari 2011). Lipsey (1992) and Home Office Research Study 171 (1997) found that young ex-convicts who did not receive rehabilitation intervention while in prison or in the community were more likely to re-offend compared to those who received such help. ...
The survey investigated the contributions of sociodemographics, psychopathic personality, mental health, and recidivism to criminal behavior in a random sample of 64 Brunei convicts representing both genders. Participants committed five major types of crime related to stealing, drugs, sex, violence, and deception. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed gender, age, the inmates’ marital status and marital status of the inmates’ parents as significant demographic predictors of criminality. Multinomial logistic regression analysis identified the demographic, psychopathic, and mental health variables that were related to committing the specific crimes. Significant psychopathic predictors were interpersonal and affective (stealing-related offenses), interpersonal and affective (drug crimes), interpersonal (sex offenders), and interpersonal (violent/ aggressive felonies). The best mental health predictors included: depression and psychoticism (stealing-related offenses); depression, hostility, and psychoticism (drug crimes); psychoticism (sex offenses); and depression, paranoid ideation, and psychoticism (violence/aggression). Binary logistic regression analysis showed male gender and inmates with married parents as the main predictors of recidivism (while other variables with high odds for re-offending included age-group 30–35, inmates with primary education, affective, lifestyle, antisocial, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, paranoid ideation, and psychoticism). Future research which incorporates interviews with probes and appropriate interventions to address crimes were recommended.
... Formerly incarcerated individuals are often subjected to discrimination practices that prevent them from accessing employer-based insurance and care. 57 Improving hiring practices may ensure formerly incarcerated individuals access insurance, care, and better food choices. ...
Background
The United States notoriously has one of the highest rates of incarceration in the world, yet scant attention to the health care needs of those incarcerated exists within laboratory medicine and pathology training and education. This article explores health disparities among incarcerated and released individuals regarding diagnostic laboratory testing and pathology services.
Methods
A literature search was conducted for articles published between 2002 and 2023 using keywords including “healthcare,” “incarcerated,” “laboratory services,” “pathology services,” and “health insurance for prisoners.” Central themes were extracted and discussed to reveal the realities of health care during and after release from incarceration. Excluded from the analysis were articles about the immediate or extended family of incarcerated persons.
Results
Incarcerated individuals have an increased risk for the development and exacerbation of communicable and noncommunicable diseases and mental health disorders, which results in exceedingly high morbidity and mortality rates.
Conclusion
Policy changes are needed to mitigate disparities and improve health outcomes for incarcerated and released persons. Central to these disparities is decreased access to laboratory and pathology services, impeded by inadequate health care funding for these carceral institutions. Providing additional funding to the carceral system’s health care budget is necessary to improve access to pathology and laboratory services.
... Baumer et al. (2009) assert that educational and vocational preparation, drug treatment and some other life skills training are examples of programs designed for inmates with the purpose of economically empowering them in order to curb their propensity to recidivate. Harrison and Schehr (2004) share that rehabilitation programs in prison are not effective and do not work in curbing recidivism. These authors are of the view that the debilitating prison environment is not the ideal place for rehabilitation programs, but rather outside the confinement walls of the prison. ...
This chapter surveys scholarly works on the extent to which religion influences inmate rehabilitation and reintegration into mainstream society. Apart from conceptual explanations, the empirical reviews add to its analytic claims. This study argues that despite the functions of religion in relation to crime and its pro-social behaviour, its rehabilitation and reintegration function is limited due to the neglected roles of faith communities, families, and other legal institutions. The literature analysis concludes that the efforts to institute religion in prison to reform and rehabilitate inmates are fruitless due to the divergent interests of the actors involved. The religious civil society organisations that participated in convicted prisoner rehabilitation did not show the same interest in their reintegration into mainstream society.
... Employment may also facilitate 'psychological rehabilitation' through increased self-confidence, personal autonomy, and the ability to demonstrate steps towards 'going straight' (Goodstein and Petrich, 2019). These theories are supported by evidence that employment correlates with reduced re-offending (Harrison and Schehr, 2004;Solomon et al., 2006;Visher et al., 2008;Wadsworth, 2006) and unemployment with higher risks of re-offending (Blomberg et al., 2012;Nuttall et al., 2003;Vacca, 2004). Research further indicates that the quality and stability of the job matters (Ramakers et al., 2016;Sampson and Laub, 1993;Uggen and Wakefield, 2008) in order to provide the opportunity to 'knife off' from criminal pasts (Giordano et al., 2002) and compensate for financial positions supported by offending. ...
In England and Wales, criminal reoffending costs £18 billion annually. Securing employment can support desistance from crime, but only 17% of ex-prisoners are employed a year after release. Understanding the motivations of employers who do recruit criminalised people therefore represents an important area of inquiry. This article draws upon qualitative interviews with 12 business leaders in England who proactively employ criminalised people. Findings reveal that inclusive recruitment can be (indirectly) encouraged by planning policies aimed to improve social and environmental well-being and that employers often work creatively to meet employees’ additional needs, resulting in commercial benefits and (re)settlement opportunities.
... The authors determined that for inmates of colour, "social stigma, institutional marginalisation and economic disenfranchisement assume the status of an extended form of incarceration". 230 Sustained employment was perceived as a critical aspect in the effective reintegration of exoffenders. Harrison and Schehr, for example, argue that "sustainable employment is critical to the success of a supervision program, and an ex-offender's avoidance of recidivism"; they believed that vocational guidance and programmes that included financial assistance as well as follow-up support were "more effective than incarceration for some offenders in deterring perpetual recidivism". ...
In contrast to Singapore's zero tolerance stance on drugs, some developed countries have begun legalising drug use, raising concerns for local authorities that this will create a more permissive climate here. Drug users in Singapore have gotten younger, more affluent and also more highly educated. Given these trends, the Singapore Anti-Narcotics Association (SANA) has revamped its preventive education strategy to target youth. Adopting a community-based approach meant modifying the content of the anti-drug message away from an "enforcement" logic towards an "engagement" one. Youth groups have also been equipped to conceptualise and implement drug awareness campaigns that reach out to their fellow schoolmates. In addition, SANA has started to experiment with peer-led support groups so that ex-offenders themselves can contribute to the rehabilitation of others earlier in their recovery journey, allowing a community-centric approach to complement their professional casework. These approaches make use of the strengths and untapped resources of clients themselves and broader community assets, inviting them to co-produce solutions. However, community empowerment approaches require investments in capability building, creating bridges across community assets, and establishing trust with community and clients-in other words, they depend more on social capital than financial capital. Organisations doing such work have to build bridges, establish trust and invest in capability building of the community.
... Despite the benefits attributed to prison-based employment and educational programming (Davis et al., 2013;Wilson et al., 2000), employment opportunities remain limited for former prisoners, due, at least in part, to formal or legal restrictions (Ricciardelli and Mooney, 2017), and the stigma associated with having a criminal record (Harding, 2003;Travis, 2005). Specific lines of work, such as working with vulnerable populations, may disqualify former prisoners due to their criminal records (Harrison and Schehr, 2004). Furthermore, parole or court-ordered conditions, such as not being allowed to use computers or simply not having the time required to keep up with parole appointments and regulations, may have impacts on employment or employability (Kerley and Copes, 2004;Ricciardelli and Mooney, 2017). ...
In an effort to extend understanding of the employment concerns faced by former prisoners released into the community, we draw from the voices of 24 individuals released from federal prison in Canada. We explore how the stigma imposed on individuals with prior experiences of incarceration interacts with the employment programming government and community-based agencies offer; particularly within the current climate of precarious employment. Findings evidence that participants, too often, attain employment involving manual labour and report experiencing low-wage and non-gratifying jobs, despite participation in pre-employment programming, which drives their re-evaluation and re-creation of career aspirations. We show how the conditions underpinning the movement toward employment for former prisoners can encourage the potential exploitation of their labour within both formal and informal job markets.
... Employment is critical to the discussion of offender reentry and is a key factor in probation and parole. If returning offenders can find employment, it can be a positive precursor for success over the long term (see Berg & Huebner, 2011;Bucklen & Zajac, 2009;Bushway & Reuter, 2001;Duwe & Clark, 2017;Harrison & Schehr, 2004;Petersilia, 2003;Rossman & Roman, 2003;Sampson & Laub, 1993;Visher, Debus, & Yahner, 2008). Additionally, employment can provide these individuals with informal social controls and with legal channels to support themselves (Berg & Huebner, 2011;Duwe & Clark, 2017). ...
Reentry research has primarily focused on systemic and structural issues, with relatively little attention paid to the individual differences among ex-offender participation in community-based reentry services. Researchers often assume that the limiting factor for utilization of reentry services is the capacity for these services, without taking into account individual agency. This study examines factors that contribute to whether individuals participate or forego services, using data from a North Texas nonprofit client support organization, Texas ReEntry Services. Utilizing descriptive statistics and logistic regression, the researchers examine individuals who participate in the Job Readiness Program and compare them to individuals who do not utilize this service. Initial findings suggest that only a small percentage of unemployed ex-offenders take advantage of employment training and other free services.
... Some evaluations have identified specific factors or characteristics that appear to relate to the most promising correctional program outcomes. It seems that programs are most successful if they teach skills relevant to the job market, include multiple program components, and integrate community follow-up services (Bushway and Reuter 1997;Wilson et al. 1999;Harrison and Schehr 2004). ...
and Keywords Historically, work has played an important role in managing correctional populations and providing a means to reduce prisoner idleness. As correctional ideologies have shifted over time, the concept of working while incarcerated has taken on more of a rehabilitative approach. Several policies and correctional initiatives have been developed to integrate prison industry and employment services into correctional systems in an effort to address the poor employment histories and low job-related skills of offenders. Evaluations of these programs demonstrate that participation in prison industry and employment services can increase job prospects and lower the chances of recidivism. The effectiveness of prison-based employment programs vary, however, and is dependent upon the key components incorporated into their design. Despite the differences between programs, employment services offered in prison seem to be an effective approach to addressing employment deficits among offenders.
... In neoinstitutional terms, the criminal records system enables employers to locate former prisoners and "[handle] … them in the appropriate manner" Luckmann, 1966/1991: 56), which is to discard them from candidate pools unless this practice is specifically curtailed through legislation (Naylor, Paterson and Pittard, 2008). Considerable evidence suggests that Harrison and Schehr's (2004) earlier appraisal of the US situation still holds, and is applicable to other individualist liberal societies. A survey by the Society for Human Resource Management in the US (2012) shows that 86 per cent of employers routinely conduct such checks with 69 per cent of employers conducting checks for all advertised positions. ...
In this article we contend that employers' willingness to provide former prisoners with integrative forms of employment is related to the extent to which liberal societies abstract, idealise, and prioritise the interests of the self over the interests of society. Using the United States of America as a critical case to illustrate this argument, we unite the neoinstitutional sociology of organisations with Weick's small wins approach to problem solving to show how an especially individualistic embodiment of liberalism contributes to the construction of a social and institutional reality that discourages firms from behaving integratively toward former prisoners. In so doing, we produce a conceptual framework that points to ways by which the scarcity of integrative firms within individualist liberal societies might be addressed.
... While many factors may contribute to community reintegration of people leaving jail or prison (Graffam, Shinkfield, Lavelle, & McPherson, 2004), former prisoners' ability to secure legitimate employment with sustainable wages has been regarded as a critical element in this regard (Finn, 1998;Fletcher, Shaver, & Moon, 1993;Harer, 1994;Harrison & Schehr, 2004;Kerley & Copes, 2004;Needels, 1996;Sampson & Laub, 1993;Uggen, 1999). Stable employment -characterized as having a full-time position over a period of time or the ability to remain employed regardless of job change (Kachnowski, 2005;Kerley & Copes, 2004) -relates to positive economic and health outcomes, as it may serve to increase social functioning, promote self-efficacy, and reduce isolation (Parsons & Warner-Robbins, 2002;Richie, 2001). ...
Restoring people with mental illnesses to community life after detention in jail is fraught with significant challenges. Many of these challenges mirror those faced by anyone else who has been detained in jail. Among these are the particular challenge of seeking gainful employment and financial support for day-to-day life. This challenge is intensified when individuals return from jail to impoverished communities where employment prospects are already limited for residents, and where either a criminal record or a mental illness creates still additional barriers to work. To understand these barriers more fully, this study examined the process of seeking employment among people with mental illnesses leaving jail. Seventeen individuals with a history of mental health problems and with recent jail incarcerations were recruited from either a community based employment program or a mental health service setting. The informants were interviewed using life history interview techniques. Results show that connections to the paid workforce were tenuous at best for these respondents, both before and after their jail detention. While psychiatric symptoms, addiction, and the lack of productive social connections were individual-level factors that affected employment, the most pernicious impediments were rooted in policy, community structures, stigma and other social and economic realities.. If employment interventions are to have any traction at all in these settings, interventionists need to dig for innovative ways to address these factors, which are not complications, but bedrock realities that undergird all else.
... y criminologists consider the relationship between crime and employment to be strong and inverse, many states have allocated funds to vocational training programs. As such, several studies have assessed the effectiveness of inprison vocational training programs and work-release programs for their ability to reduce recidivism rates for ex-prisoners. Harrison and Schehr (2004) analyzed four vocational training programs and found they reduced recidivism between 10% and 50% for the first 5 years after release from prison. Turner and Petersilia (1996) conducted an experimental study to examine the influence of a work release project on recidivism in Washington State. Fewer ex-prisoners from the work release prog ...
This article explores the association between employment and recidivism for parolees released from Texas prisons. Along with determining whether obtaining employment on release from prison is associated with decreased odds of reincarceration, this article analyzes whether obtaining employment is associated with increased time to reincarceration. Proportional hazard models were used to examine the effect of employment on reincarceration over time. This analysis allowed a unique view of desistance from crime as a process of behavioral change with multiple stages. Results generally support this perspective, finding that although obtaining employment is not associated with a significant decrease in likelihood of reincarceration, it is associated with significantly greater time to reincarceration. Thus, among parolees who are reincarcerated, those who obtain employment spend more time crime-free in the community before returning to prison. This article argues that increased time crime-free is an indicator of positive behavior change that should be supplemented with clinical interventions to help formerly incarcerated persons maintain the initial motivation associated with employment.
The study explored the perceptions and experiences of elderly parolees transitioning back to the community. The study sample comprised 15 elderly parolees selected through purposive sampling. In-depth interviews were conducted using semi-structured interview guides. The study was situated in Durban Community Corrections, a reintegration centre under the Durban Management Area in the KwaZulu-Natal province. The study aimed to gain an in-depth understanding of elderly parolees’ experiences of transitioning from prison to the community. This study reveals that even though participants experienced loss of independence, family ties and identity, chronic health problems, and discrimination, they were able to desist from criminal activities, received religious support, and obtained short-term employment opportunities. The study concludes by proffering recommendations for the Department of Correctional Services, programme developers, coordinators, planners, social workers, as well as managers of community correctional centres who are responsible for ensuring that parolees continue to receive effective services after release from a correctional centre.
The handbook seeks to provide a state-of-the-art reference point for the field of career development. It engages in a transdisciplinary and international dialogue that explores current ideas and debates from a variety of viewpoints including socio-economic, political, educational, and social justice perspectives. Career development is broadly defined to encompass both individuals’ experience of their own careers, and the full range of support services for career planning and transitions. The handbook is divided into three sections. The first section explores the economic, educational, and public policy contexts within which careers are enacted. The second section explores the rich conceptual landscape of career theory. The third section addresses the broad spectrum of helping practices to support both individuals and groups including career guidance, career counselling, and career learning interventions.
This work investigates the effects of pre-employment training on employment outcomes for previously incarcerated individuals using two theories developed in the discipline of economics: human capital theory and signaling theory. Human capital theory suggests that preemployment training increases wages and the likelihood of employment by building relevant skills that would improve productivity. Signaling theory asserts that the completion of pre-employment training acts as a signal of participant ability, as ability is known to the applicant but unknown to employers. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, results support hypotheses related to signaling theory for individuals without a history of incarceration, but show no meaningful relationship between pre-employment training and employment outcomes for previously incarcerated individuals. Findings contribute to both economic and criminal justice theory and can be used to inform employment interventions for those with or without a history of incarceration.
Ex-offenders in North America and Western Europe face major challenges when re-entering the job market and often remain unemployed for significant periods. Simultaneously, the relatively sparse existent literature regarding career counselling for ex-offenders often fails to incorporate recent research from other relevant fields. This article aims to address that gap by considering issues of identity transition encountered by ex-offenders seeking post-prison employment. The identity transition process is divided into three components, which involve imaginal, cognitive and behavioural tasks. A three-stage career counselling intervention, which can be in individual or group format, is proposed, drawing on career construction theory, social cognitive career theory and social learning theory.
There has been a recent push toward placing restrictions on when and how employers can ask about job applicants’ criminal records. In our research, we asked hypothetical employers to evaluate job applicants so we could examine whether certain ‘ban the box’ practices increase the chances that formerly incarcerated individuals find jobs. Our results showed that an applicant with a drug conviction was more likely to be hired if his record was revealed after an interview rather than on the job application and if he explained the unusualness of his offense rather than if he provided no explanation (Studies 1 and 3). Further, we found that an interviewed applicant who explained his record was similarly likely to be hired regardless of whether he volunteered information about his record or it was discovered through a background check (Study 2). Finally, when equally qualified applicants were being considered at the initial application stage, the applicant without a criminal record was preferred even if the applicant with a record explained it (Study 4). These results indicate the importance of restricting access to criminal record information until after an applicant has been interviewed and in allowing the applicant to explain the unusualness of the offense.
Forensic social workers and criminal justice reform advocates must better understand how correctional and probation officers influence offender recidivism. Justice system reform efforts focusing on policing and the courts often ignore the roles of correctional and probation officers. Returning citizens' internal “persistence” and “desistance” narratives influence future criminality and successful reintegration into their communities. Correctional and probation officers may influence these persistence and desistance narratives. A narrative analysis investigating the experiences of three Black male returning citizens in Baltimore, Maryland, shows that a person's ability to make sense of their interactions with probation officers while serving community corrections sentences and their interactions with correctional officers within prisons may be one of many factors that influence persistence and desistance narratives.
Abstract
Introduction: This descriptive article provides an overview of the development and structure of a five-module Life
Skills Program for men and women incarcerated in a county jail. Demographics of jail populations across the United
States increasingly reflect characteristics including co-occurring medical and mental health problems, substance
use, a history of trauma, and a variety of social justice issues. By design, jail environments prevent engagement in
meaningful experiences, resulting in occupational deprivation. Collectively, these factors can limit community reintegration after release, especially for those who lack the skills necessary to engage in meaningful occupations and
become productive members of society.
Methods: This five-module Life Skills Program was designed to help participants to develop skills for successful
community reintegration. The program is conceptually grounded in the primary tenets of the Model of Human Occupation (MOHO) and the Kawa model and was developed through a collaborative effort among a county jail, a community mental health center, and a university occupational therapy program.
Results: A comprehensive needs assessment led to the development and implementation of this structured modular program that is focused on skill development in the following areas: (1) interpersonal communication, (2)
employment, (3) finance, (4) leisure, and (5) community resources.
Conclusion: Feedback from the occupational therapy supervisor and students, along with continued and growing
support from county courts and judges, correctional staff, and correction system administrators, suggests a distinct
value of occupational therapy in a county jail setting. Further research is needed to provide objective data to assess
the overall effectiveness of this innovative and ongoing jail-based occupational therapy program
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the social stigmatization of the formerly incarcerated identity and how this affects employment post-release. The authors consider the characteristics of this identity and the identity management strategies that individuals draw from as they navigate employment.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted semi-structured interviews with 22 men at various stages of release from federal institutions in Canada. Participants were actively searching for employment, intending to or would consider searching for employment, or had searched for employment in the past post-incarceration. Participant data were simultaneously collected, coded and analyzed using an inductive approach (Gioia et al., 2012).
Findings
Formerly incarcerated individuals have a unique awareness of the social stigmatization associated with their criminal record and incarceration history. They are tasked with an intentional choice to disclose or conceal that identity throughout the employment process. Six identity management strategies emerged from their accounts: conditional disclosure, deflection, identity substitution, defying expectations, withdrawal and avoidance strategies. More specifically, distinct implications of criminal record and incarceration history on disclosure decisions were evident. Based on participants’ accounts of their reintegration experiences, four aspects that may inform disclosure decisions include: opportune timing, interpersonal dynamics, criminal history and work ethic.
Originality/value
The authors explore the formerly incarcerated identity as a socially stigmatized identity and consider how individuals manage this identity within the employment context. The authors identify incarceration history and criminal record as having distinct impacts on experiences of stigma and identity management strategic choice, thus representing the experience of a “double stigma”.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand how digital media technologies can enhance offender rehabilitation in correctional institutions.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative approach was adopted for this study involving young prisoners who had been incarcerated for at least six months. In total, 16 participants who fulfilled the criteria of listening to at least 30 of the podcasts were eventually selected for face-to-face interview.
Findings
This study focuses on how the radio podcast impacted the rehabilitation process of the 16 young inmates. From data collected through the interviews, three major themes emerged from the study, namely, reflective thinking, increased motivation to change and structured routines. The participants highlighted how these factors are essential in moving them towards successful rehabilitation upon their release.
Research limitations/implications
A convenient sample was used as there was a lack of a more diverse sample to better represent the prison population in Singapore. The number of participants who took part in the study were limited and only young inmates. Thus, the outcome of the research may not be directly applicable to the general prison population. Another issue is that media has short-lived effects and does not encourage persistent learning, it would be prudent to explore other options that can complement the radio podcasts.
Originality/value
The study indicated that the use of digital media technology can effectively aid the rehabilitation of offenders in Singapore. It enhanced work efficiency since fewer resources were required as inmates can have podcast access within their cells. The content of the podcasts complements the overall framework of rehabilitation for young inmates when they are serving their sentences in the institutions.
The stigma of a criminal history has well-documented adverse effects on the efforts of ex-offenders to secure employment. What is less well understood is whether interventions or educational efforts targeting employers would improve access to the labor market for this population. We report results from two surveys to better understand attitudes toward hiring ex-offenders among samples of South Carolina businesses. Our results suggest that about half of employers routinely conduct background checks and approximately 60% would consider hiring someone with a criminal record. A key additional focus of our study was whether businesses were aware of various programs and incentives to encourage the hiring of ex-offenders. Our results suggest relatively low levels of awareness among the surveyed businesses and provide limited support for the idea that awareness is linked to more favorable attitudes toward hiring ex-offenders. We conclude with an assessment of study limitations and directions for future research.
Studies find inmates who receive visits while incarcerated are less likely to recidivate upon release, especially when visits are from spouses and occur frequently throughout incarceration. Absent from these studies is measurement of the quality of an inmate’s relationships prior to incarceration, which may play a more significant role in criminal desistance than visitation itself. Longitudinal data from 205 incarcerated male and female adult offenders were used to test the mediating effects of visitation for offenders with varying levels of preincarceration relationships on recidivism. Findings indicate that quality of an inmate’s preincarceration relationships is more important in reducing the odds of recidivism than visitation. When quality of relationships was taken into account, visitation became nonsignificant in predicting the odds of recidivism. Most critical, a strong maternal relationship prior to incarceration was associated with a reduction in recidivism subsequent to a period of incarceration.
Background: People with severe mental illness (SMI) and criminal justice involvement (CJI) are able to achieve competitive employment when provided with evidence-based services, but outcomes are modest compared to studies of SMI in general.
Aims: To investigate barriers to employment facing people with SMI and CJI receiving employment services.
Method: Employment service providers assessed top three barriers to employment for 87 people with SMI and CJI enrolled in a randomized controlled trial comparing a job club program to supported employment. Main barriers were identified and differences between programs were analyzed. Associations between barriers and client background characteristics were investigated.
Results: The most common barriers were failure to engage and disengagement from services, followed by substance abuse. Staff from the two employment programs reported similar barriers.
Conclusions: Engagement problems were the single most important barrier to employment across programs. Surprisingly, criminal history was rarely mentioned. This may be explained by barriers arising earlier in the process, before achieving employer contact. The results call for recognition and awareness of the importance of motivational issues as well as factors that may inhibit engagement in services, highlighting possible augmentations to evidence-based employment services that may be necessary in the rehabilitation of this patient group.
We develop a theoretical commentary on the implementation and expansion of the ban the box (BTB) movement as a legal response to the formal and informal discrimination ex-offenders face every day in the labor market, in particular the racial impacts of such policies. We first provide a thorough overview of the numerous laws that have created barriers to ex-offender employment. Then we focus on the advent of BTB legislation across the U.S. and the impact these policies might have in the long run. An emphasis on the racial implications is necessary to explore the potential of BTB policies to exacerbate statistical discrimination that would marginalize young minority males with clean records. While we do not advocate the removal of BTB policies, our discussion aims to clarify the risks associated with limiting employers' access to applicants' information in the job market and to highlight the unintended consequences such policies could have on those without criminal records.
Purpose
Ex-prisoners often face significant challenges in their efforts to find meaningful and stable work, undermining their chances of successful reintegration back into the community. These problems are likely to be compounded for those who have an intellectual disability (ID), given evidence that the disabled generally experience high levels of discrimination when applying for and maintaining jobs. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether members of the public hold different attitudes and expectations towards the employment of ex-offenders who have an ID and a history of criminal offending.
Design/methodology/approach
Samples of 642 participants, recruited via social media, were presented with vignettes, and then completed a short survey designed to measure their attitudes and expectations towards the employment of ex-offenders.
Findings
Whilst the presence of a mild ID did not significantly affect community attitudes towards ex-offender employment, it did change expectations about employment outcomes.
Research limitations/implications
It appears that ex-offenders are perceived as a homogenous group of people, despite actual and substantial differences existing within this population.
Practical implications
There is a need to actively educate the community about differences between subgroups of ex-offenders in relation to the employment needs of those with an ID.
Social implications
The social inclusion of ex-offenders with an ID lies at the heart of any effective and progressive criminal justice policy.
Originality/value
This is one of the only studies that has examined public attitudes towards this group.
This book explores the profound transformations that prisons and offender rehabilitation programmes in Eastern Germany have undergone with respect to religion. Drawing on participant observation and interviews of inmates, ex-prisoners, chaplains and prison visitors, this book connects the institutional to individual: focusing on the religious changes individuals experience when they are imprisoned and released. Including comparative studies from Italy and Switzerland, Becci reveals that despite diverse local, historical, denominational, political and social contexts the transformation patterns of individuals' relationship to religion, and their use of religious resources, are strongly shaped by the total character of prisons. Becci also explores the difficulties faced by released people in keeping their religious life alive under the harsh conditions of social stigma in a highly secular outside society.
This book explores the profound transformations that prisons and offender rehabilitation programmes in Eastern Germany have undergone with respect to religion. Drawing on participant observation and interviews of inmates, ex-prisoners, chaplains and prison visitors, this book connects the institutional to individual: focusing on the religious changes individuals experience when they are imprisoned and released. Including comparative studies from Italy and Switzerland, Becci reveals that despite diverse local, historical, denominational, political and social contexts the transformation patterns of individuals' relationship to religion, and their use of religious resources, are strongly shaped by the total character of prisons. Becci also explores the difficulties faced by released people in keeping their religious life alive under the harsh conditions of social stigma in a highly secular outside society.
Section 9(3) of the South African constitution prohibits unfair direct or indirect discrimination on grounds, including ‘race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, language and birth’. The Constitutional Court has interpreted section 9(3) to include analogous grounds such as marital status, citizenship and HIV status. There are many pieces of legislation or regulations in South Africa that prohibit employers from employing people with criminal records – irrespective of the lack of a nexus between the criminal record and the job in question. Invoking the test developed by the Constitutional Court on what criteria that should be met for an analogous ground, we argue that denying a person a job simply because of his criminal record amounts to unfair discrimination. We also discuss the issue of whether such discrimination could be justified on the basis of section 36 of the constitution.
We propose a theoretical model of the linkages between the stigma of having a criminal history and perceptions of warmth and competence as related to hiring decisions about ex-offenders. Our model suggests that characteristics related to the criminal offense and the ex-offender may influence hiring managers' perceptions of ex-offender job applicants, which in turn may either limit or enhance ex-offenders' ability to secure employment. Furthermore, it suggests that factors pertaining to the hiring manager, job, organization, and government incentives moderate the relationships between hiring manager perceptions of the warmth and competence of ex-offender job applicants and their hiring decisions about these applicants. Lastly, we acknowledge larger societal and organizational issues related to the lack of ex-offender hiring and discuss implications for research and practice.
After decades of “tough on crime” policies, the number of ex-offenders in the USA has increased dramatically. Felony convictions limit ex-offenders’ opportunities in the labor market. In an effort to reduce these barriers, many US jurisdictions have implemented closed records policies such as “ban the box.” By limiting employers’ access to applicants’ criminal history records, these policies attempt to eliminate the discrimination that qualified ex-offenders face in the labor market because of the stigma attached to a criminal conviction. These policies have been under scrutiny because of the possible ramifications limiting employers’ access to labor market information might cause. Drawing upon Merton’s theory of “unintended consequences of purposive social action” (1936), this paper investigates the motivations behind the decision to implement and enforce closed records’ policies and the existing body of knowledge on ex-offender barriers to employment available to social agents and analyzes the potential ramifications.
Exoffenders represent a population with unique concerns related to high unemployment. Betz and Hackett’s (19814.
Betz, N. E., & Hackett, G. (1981). The relationship of career-related self-efficacy expectations to perceived career options in college women and men. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 28(5), 399–410.[CrossRef], [Web of Science ®]View all references) career decision self-efficacy theory suggests that efficacy is an important component of career development. The differences in career decision self-efficacy between exoffenders and nonoffenders before and after a career development workshop were examined. Prior to the workshop, both groups were similar in overall career decision self-efficacy, self-appraisal, goal setting, planning, and problem solving, but exoffenders had lower occupational information. After the workshop, there were no significant differences between exoffenders and nonoffenders. Findings indicate that the entire sample experienced growth in all areas except for planning.
Some women offenders cope well with community re-entry after serving judicial sentences, but little is known about the coping resources that help them succeed; research on women offenders most often examines causes of desistance from further criminality. The aim of this study was to illuminate the resources for coping used by ex-offenders who were deemed to be coping well in a community re-entry programme. Data in this qualitative study were collected from five in-depth interviews with women offenders in Norway, who were making good progression in a re-entry programme, and from one group interview with four professional staff working in two re-entry programmes. All respondents emphasized the importance to coping well of having some close relationships providing emotional and practical social support, having intrapersonal resources such as the ability to be self-reflective, staying sober, having employment or schooling opportunities, making plans for the future and using the re-entry services on offer.
Research indicates that employment is effective in reducing recidivism amongst ex-offenders. However, ex-offenders are also discouraged from obtaining employment as a result of their poor education level, deficits in vocational skills and employer bias and discrimination. In Hong Kong, the Society of Rehabilitation and Crime Prevention offers a wide range of services to assist ex-offenders in employment. While a number of ex-offenders have benefited from these services, continuing difficulties are hard to overcome without government support. This paper recommends a multi-disciplinary approach to improve the employment situation of ex-offenders in Hong Kong and advocates for greater government involvement to help facilitate the reintegration of ex-offenders into the community in Hong Kong.有研究指出就业能有效减少更生人士成为累犯者的机会。但是，因为低学历及缺乏职业技能， 再加上雇主的偏见及歧视均阻碍更生人士就业。 香港善导会提供广泛种类的服务协助更生人士就业。 虽然部分更生人士已经受惠, 但在缺乏政府支持下， 持续性问题依然难以获得解决。 本文建议用跨专业的方法改善香港更生人士的就业困境， 并且提倡政府需要更多协助促进更生人士再度融入社会。
This study describes violating behavior and sanctioning responses in the postincarceration period. We describe patterns of noncompliance during supervised release—a subject known little about—and find that (a) nearly all offenders commit at least one violation and (b) the vast majority of violations are drug related. Additionally, we find that sanctioned offenders are less likely to reoffend, but that (a) severity is not critical, and (b) the relationship does not persist as violations grow. These results suggest that agencies may increase the effectiveness of sanctioning policies through careful consideration of what sanctions to apply, to whom and at what point.
As higher numbers of individuals are released from prison and rejoin society, reentry programs can help former offenders reintegrate
into society without continuing to engage in crime. This quasi-experimental study examined whether participation in reentry
programming was associated with reduced recidivism among offenders who were no longer under criminal justice supervision.
Offenders who completed their sentences in prison were invited to participate in Project Re-Connect (PRC), a six-month, voluntary
prisoner reentry program. Following participants' release from prison, PRC provided case management and direct monetary support
to participants for up to six months. Survival analysis was used to compare recidivism rates between 122 PRC participants
and 158 eligible nonparticipants. Cox regression coefficients indicated that program participation and having a high school
diploma or its equivalent were associated with reduced likelihood of new convictions, whereas substance abuse was associated
with higher risk of subsequent convictions. The implications for social work policy and practice are discussed.
Finding legitimate employment upon release from prison is an important, yet daunting, aspect of offender reentry. Researchers have argued that negative employer attitudes toward hiring ex-offenders act as a barrier during the job search process. This study explored existing attitudes of employers in their willingness to hire ex-offenders in the current labor market and determined whether these attitudes were dependent on the concentration of ex-offenders in the surrounding geographical community. Mail surveys and follow-up telephone contacts with a random sample of businesses that typically employ ex-offenders within 12 Texas zip-codes (six high parolee concentrations, six low parolee concentrations) were conducted. Respondents indicated a general willingness to hire ex-offenders, which did not vary by concentration of parolees in the surrounding area but was found to vary by the conviction offense. Other significant predictors included the respondent’s age and arrest history, whether their business was currently hiring, and whether the business had previously hired an ex-offender.
Objectives
Investigate the transition from prison to employment and the relationship between post-release employment and recidivism.
Methods
We use a sample of every person released from Norwegian prisons in 2003 (N = 7,476), and they are followed through 2006 with monthly measures. We estimate the time to recidivism using discrete time survival models, conditioning upon both pre-release characteristics and post-release time-varying covariates (employment, educational enrollment and participation in labor market programs).
Results
The majority of former inmates were employed at some point in our data window, but it took approximately 30 months for 30% of them to become employed. The hazard of recidivism is substantially lower (0.12, p < .001) when former inmates are employed compared with unemployed, although observable individual characteristics can account for a large share of this association (0.50, p < .001, after adjustment). The negative association between employment and recidivism remains when controlling for other post-release statuses. Although post-release employment periods are associated with a lower risk of recidivism for all categories of principal offence, the magnitude of the association varies. The association is smaller for those receiving social benefits.
Conclusion
The findings are consistent with theories suggesting that employment reduces the risk of recidivism.
The ability of inmates to secure stable, legal employment for themselves upon release from prison has been shown to be a crucial element for successful community reintegration. These individuals, however, often fail to find employment due to a multitude of personal, relational, structural, and institutional barriers. Formerly incarcerated women are particularly disadvantaged in this respect, given their high rates of psychiatric and substance abuse disorders, and history of domestic violence in conjunction with low educational attainment and limited employment skills. The main goal of the current study was to delineate the relative importance of a variety of personal factors as determinants of stable employment for female inmates. Data were collected as part of a population survey of female inmates in New Jersey (N = 908). Female inmates who volunteered to participate in this study were asked to complete a short survey that included questions about their educational and work histories, their work skills, as well as their history of need in and treatment for behavioral health services. Findings from this study underscore the importance of both education and treatment for behavioral health problems as key determinants of stable employment. Recommendations for possible interventions are addressed.
Current legislation at the state and federal level is largely based on the premise that we can best protect children by prohibiting sexual offenders’ access to children through the use of residency restrictions, employment sanctions, and community notification. While well intentioned, these policies are short sighted and based more on public misperceptions than empirical research. In this study, the authors assess sexual offenders’ perceptions of residency restrictions in the state of North Carolina. The study population was comprised of a nonrandom sample of 231 adult sexual offenders from 11 outpatient sexual offender treatment sites in North Carolina. The majority (151) of sexual offenders stated that housing restrictions do nothing to prevent them from reoffending. More than half (135) indicated that no residency restrictions would serve as an effective deterrent. These findings indicate the need for a more comprehensive approach to the community management of sexual offenders.
Failure to find steady and rewarding employment and stabilizing economic resources are key contributors to recidivism among ex-offenders. Within 3 years of their release, almost two thirds of ex-offenders return to prison. Ex-offenders face formidable barriers to employment including legal limitations and those specific to their skills, education, and training. In addition to these real barriers and the stigma associated with having a criminal record, the ex-offender’s prospect of securing employment is further complicated by the high national unemployment rate that is characteristic of our current economic downturn. Furthermore, due to limited and or restricted hiring opportunities, ex-offenders may be unable to pursue jobs that best fit their interests. Discussion of the role of work in the lives of ex-offenders has been scarce in the vocational psychology literature. Hence, this article illuminates the ex-offender’s reintegration process and the vocational implications of having a criminal record. The author argues that the field of vocational psychology is distinctively qualified to assume a greater presence in the scholarly literature relevant to the vocational needs of ex-offenders.
Successfully reintegrating long-term prisoners back into the community often presents significant challenges for service providers. Ex-prisoners typically experience high levels of social stigma; present with multiple needs; and can struggle to find meaningful employment, stable accommodation, and to maintain supportive relationships. There have, however, been relatively few published evaluations of the outcomes achieved by postrelease services on managing the risk of reoffending and, as such, it is difficult for service providers to meet these multiple and complex levels of need in ways that might be considered to be evidence based. In this article we describe a specialized prerelease support, reentry, and reintegration service that is offered to long-term prisoners, many of whom have been legally labelled as “dangerous.” The current model of service delivery is reviewed and discussed in the context of current theories of offender rehabilitation and reintegration. These are then used to discuss the way in which services for this group of offenders might best be conceptualized.
In the United States, over 600,000 offenders rejoin society annually, though little has been done to facilitate their transition from the prison to the community. Offender reentry into the workplace has emerged as a particular concern, given that many statutes prohibit public employment for ex-offenders and create obstacles to private-sector employment through occupational licensing requirements. These mandates may explicitly reject ex-offenders, or require “good moral character” or job/relationship tests that all but eliminate meaningful employment options. Several states are reconsidering the implications of these prohibitions, but a clear framework for assessing the validity of exclusionary occupational mandates is often lacking. This article proposes that the bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ) defense found in employment discrimination law provides a helpful framework for guiding these reform efforts.
Latinos are disproportionately represented among the offender population in the United States, with unemployment status a
leading risk factor in Latinos returning to criminal behavior. Yet, few studies have empirically examined the employment barriers
of Latino ex-offenders. The current study endeavors to begin to fill this gap by examining the role of ethnicity, criminal
history, and qualifications on the employability of Latinos compared to their Anglo counterparts. After reading a description
of a stock worker position, 361 college students made hiring decisions for 1 of 24 different hypothetical job applicants,
varied by ethnicity, criminal history, education, and work experience. Results showed significant interactions between ethnicity
and qualifications and between ethnicity and criminal history, indicating that ethnic background was influential in hiring
decisions.
Women provide support for many vulnerable groups, work that is frequently discounted with gendered stereotypes. One growing vulnerable group is former prisoners who often return to women family members. We completed a qualitative study with 25 former prisoners and criminal justice staff to examine their conceptualizations of the demands placed on women supporters of former prisoners. Results indicate a significant burden of support experienced by women, discounted by prisoners and criminal justice staff through a dynamic of gendered idealization and stigmatization. Implications include the importance of exposing this dynamic and providing supports to decrease the burden of care that women experience.
This study examined the impact of criminal justice involvement on competitive employment outcomes for clients with severe mental illness enrolled in supported employment. Based on chart reviews of 154 clients enrolled in supported employment, the CJI and no CJI groups differed on several clinical and demographic variables, but did not differ on competitive employment outcomes. This study suggests that clients with criminal justice involvement do benefit from supported employment. Further research should track employment outcomes for a longer interval with a larger study group in order to provide a more complete picture of the extent to which CJI impacts employment.
This paper aims to provide further understanding of the influence of severe mental illness (SMI) and criminal justice involvement (CJI) on access to Supported Employment (SE) services. The authors investigate differences between consumers with and without CJI regarding access to SE and explore reasons for group differences.
This study employs a mixed-methods design. The quantitative portion compares employment service utilization of consumers with CJI to consumers without CJI to examine hypothesized differences in frequency of access and time to receipt of SE services. The qualitative portion includes in-depth, individual interviews with consumers with CJI and service providers to gain various perspectives on consumers' with CJI entry to SE.
Consumers with CJI take longer to access SE services. Consumers with CJI and service providers identify the following as barriers or facilitators to access to SE: competing challenges for consumers with CJI such as mental health probation, the adverse impact of CJI on consumers' psychosocial functioning, social networks, consumers' relationships with practitioners, and practitioners' relationship with SE.
Consumers with CJI do receive SE services at the same rate as those without CJI, but it takes them substantially longer to engage in SE services. Both programmatic and policy level interventions and modifications may ameliorate this problem.
Occupational functioning is an important factor in the success of offenders reentering society. Yet few studies have empirically examined the factors influencing job obtainment of offenders. This study endeavors to begin to fill this gap by examining attitudes in hiring applicants charged with a crime. To accomplish this goal, 275 college students read a job description for a cashier position and then read 1 of 12 descriptions of an applicant varied by criminal history, qualifications, and race. Participants rate the applicants across dimensions relevant to hiring decisions. Results indicate that applicants with drug possession charges and low qualifications were less likely to be referred for hire. Severity of charges influences employability. Among applicants with a misdemeanor, qualifications increase employability, but qualifications have no influence for applicants with a felony. Implications of these findings for policy and vocational rehabilitation programming are discussed.
Using annual time-series data for the United States, 1946-1982, two hypotheses are tested: (1) The level of the unemployment rate in any given year will have a negative partial contemporaneous effect on detrended fluctuations (increases or decreases) in seven Index Crime rates (homicide, rape, aggravated assault, robbery, burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft) in that year. (2) Unemployment-rate fluctuations from one year to the next will have a positive partial effect on detrended crime-rate fluctuations in the next year. These hypotheses are developed from a theoretical model that identifies the former with a criminal opportunity effect, and the latter with a criminal motivation effect, of aggregate unemployment on crime. For burglary, robbery and larceny-theft, empirical support is found for the expected pattern of partial effects. However, the relative sizes of the effects are such that the total impacts of unemployment-through both partial effects-are negative. In addition, only the negative-levels effect is exhibited for homicide and motor vehicle theft, while rape and aggravated assault show no consistent association with either levels or fluctuations in the unemployment rate. Interpretations for these findings are discussed.
Vanagunas (1984) found a significant association between the unemployment rate of minority males and both motor vehicle theft and the commercial robbery rate. However, he presented no theoretical framework with which to explain these results. This paper attempts to provide a microeconomic foundation for the link between property crime and unemployment. The model is based on a cost-benefit analysis. It is unique in that the behaviour is viewed from the perspective of criminals rather than non-criminals. The empirical findings supported the hypothesis with some qualifications. Only the association between the unemployment rate and the larceny rate was positive and significant for the property crimes of the USA for the period of 1960-90.
This Research in Brief describes the scientific methodologies used to perform a review of crime prevention programs and then discusses what research has shown to work, what it has shown not to work, and what approaches seem promising for crime prevention. The first step was to identify and review reports evaluating the effectiveness of crime prevention programs, looking for evidence about program impact. The Maryland Scale of Scientific Methods was developed to rank studies on overall internal validity, and it was used to rank the studies examined. Strong research support for the efficacy of the following programs was found: (1) home visits for infants by nurses and other professionals; (2) preschool classes with weekly home visits by preschool teachers; (3) family therapy and parent training for delinquent and at-risk preadolescents; (4) organization development for innovation in schools; (5) communication and reinforcement of clear and consistent norms in schools; (6) teaching social competency; (7) coaching high-risk youth in thinking skills; (8) vocational training for older male offenders; (8) nuisance abatement action on landlords; (9) extra police patrols; (10) monitoring and incarceration of repeat offenders; (11) on-scene arrests for domestic abuse; (12) rehabilitation programs with risk-focused treatments; and (13) therapeutic community treatment programs for drug users in prison. Other approaches have been identified that do not work, including such common techniques as individual and peer counseling of students, the Drug Abuse Resistance Education Program, and some school-based leisure time enrichment programs. Programs that are seen as promising, especially in schools, include training in thinking skills and improved classroom management and instructional techniques. (Contains 1 exhibit and 145 references.) (SLD)
"The Truly Disadvantagedshould spur critical thinking in many quarters about the causes and possible remedies for inner city poverty. As policy makers grapple with the problems of an enlarged underclass they—as well as community leaders and all concerned Americans of all races—would be advised to examine Mr. Wilson's incisive analysis."—Robert Greenstein,New York Times Book Review "'Must reading' for civil-rights leaders, leaders of advocacy organizations for the poor, and for elected officials in our major urban centers."—Bernard C. Watson,Journal of Negro Education "Required reading for anyone, presidential candidate or private citizen, who really wants to address the growing plight of the black urban underclass."—David J. Garrow,Washington Post Book World Selected by the editors of theNew York Times Book Reviewas one of the sixteen best books of 1987. Winner of the 1988 C. Wright Mills Award of the Society for the Study of Social Problems.
There is evidence that full-time and relatively well-paid employment can help reduce recidivism among ex-offenders and thereby reduce the escalating costs of incarcerating spiralling numbers of offenders. As a result, several departments of corrections are making increased use of programs designed to prepare ex-offenders to find work immediately after release. Safer Foundation in Chicago, the Center for Employment Opportunities in New York City, and Project RIO in the State of Texas have developed unusually comprehensive approaches to preparing ex-offenders for the workplace. Evaluations of these programs' effectiveness in improving clients' educational scores, helping them find permanent jobs, and reducing recidivism are limited in scope. However, taken together, the assessments are sufficiently promising to warrant replicating selected features of each program in other jurisdictions.
Criminologists from diverse theoretical perspectives have long asserted that the quality of employment is more strongly associated with criminal behavior than its presence or absence. By this argument, "good jobs" or "meaningful work" are necessary to induce offenders to desist from crime. This paper constructs a satisfaction based measure of job quality using data from the National Supported Work Demonstration and the 1977 Quality of Employment Survey and tests whether employment in high quality jobs reduces the likelihood of criminal behavior among offenders. After statistical corrections for selection into employment, job quality is found to reduce the likelihood of economic and non-economic criminal behavior among a sample of released high-risk offenders. None of the most salient alternative explanations-sample selection, human capital accumulation, personal expectations, external labor market effects, or prior criminality-appear to diminish the job quality effect.
The influence of demographic variables, barriers to employment, and type of training on employment outcomes of ex-offender (n = 521) and nonoffender (n = 734) trainees who terminated from Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) programs between July 1989 and June 1990 in Georgia is examined. Results from regression analyses indicate that ex-offender status had no influence on employment at termination or duringfollow-up. However, participants who were unemployed for 15 or more weeks prior to entry were less likely to have a job at termination and during follow-up. Participants who received employer-based training were more likely to have a job at termination and during follow-up.
In “Toward a Theory of Race, Crime, and Urban Inequality,” Sampson and Wilson (1995) argued that racial disparities in violent crime are attributable in large part to the persistent structural disadvantages that are disproportionately concentrated in African American communities. They also argued that the ultimate causes of crime were similar for both Whites and Blacks, leading to what has been labeled the thesis of “racial invariance.” In light of the large scale social changes of the past two decades and the renewed political salience of race and crime in the United States, this paper reassesses and updates evidence evaluating the theory. In so doing, we clarify key concepts from the original thesis, delineate the proper context of validation, and address new challenges. Overall, we find that the accumulated empirical evidence provides broad but qualified support for the theoretical claims. We conclude by charting a dual path forward: an agenda for future research on the linkages between race and crime, and policy recommendations that align with the theory’s emphasis on neighborhood level structural forces but with causal space for cultural factors.
A review of the recent literature shows the lack of any systematic relationship between employment of ex-offenders and recidivism. Despite much correctional evidence for the importance of employment in parole success, programs that have succeeded in improving the quantity or quality of ex-offender employment have not generally been successful in reducing recidivism. It is argued here that these programs have overestimated the difficulty that offenders have in finding jobs. Therefore, a less economic or environmental and a more psychological or person-centered approach should be taken with ex-offender employment programs. Two variables, prisonization and self esteem are singled out as especially important for understanding post-release adjustment. A model based on the interaction of these variables is proposed.
This paper examines the relationship between unemployment, median income, and the seven F.B.I. Index crimes. The analysis lends support to the contention that opportunity is a stronger motivator of criminal activity than is deprivation. The paper also calls into question the propriety of official unemployment rates as indicators of economic deprivation, at least at the state level. Thus, economic deprivation cannot be ruled out as a causal element in crime rates. Future researchers are cautioned to use a more macroscopic (national) or microscopic (community level) approach.
This essay examines myths that inform common conceptions of crime and criminals and the implementation of crime control policy. It also explores sources of and reasons for the perpetuation of these myths. A principal thesis is that myths are perpetuated because they serve both the short-term interests of the general public as well as the long-term interests of social elites. Finally, the essay considers contradictions and consequences of beliefs and policies based on myths.
Jail and prison populations in the United States have continued to grow unabated during the past two decades but crime rates have not declined. Partly in response to the pressures caused by burgeoning correctional populations, the use of alternatives to incarceration has expanded. An ongoing debate centers on the effectiveness of these alternatives. Many criminal justice professionals and some researchers question whether such alternatives seriously restrict the criminal justice system 's ability to incapacitate the active offender. This study deals specifically with two alternatives to incarceration: probation and parole. We examine offender recidivism for a sample of probationers and parolees active in New Orleans, Louisiana, and offer a new approach to addressing the effectiveness issue. Past research has evaluated the effectiveness of alternatives by examining failure rates of diverted offenders. High failure rates, we argue, do not necessarily imply a significant loss of the incapacitative effects of imprisonment. We suggest that a more appropriate measure of the loss of incapacitative effect is the proportion of all offenses committed by persons on probation or parole. Our results suggest that such losses are surprisingly low. The policy implications of our findings are discussed.
Recent policies have emphasized increasing sanctions to control crime. These conservative policies have been based on a consensus of doubt concerning possible relationships between economic factors and crime. The research reported here examines the relationship between economic dislocation and property crime. The findings suggest that rapid economic change may be related to property crime.
The relationship between unemployment and crime is the subject of research and debate. We present evidence that suggests that recidivism among ex-offenders can be reduced by providing unemployment compensation available immediately after their release from prison. A California program made such benefits—transitional aid—available during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Using a 5-year follow-up and a failure-time model, we show how recidivism among an eligible group was consistently lower over those 5 years than for an ineligible group. Peer Reviewed http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45112/1/10940_2005_Article_BF01065198.pdf
In a region in southern Louisiana that has been heavily impacted by offshore energy development, where the economy consequently has shown considerable fluctuation, the relationship between unemployment rates and the reported FBI index crimes was examined for a fifty-four-month period. It was found that both larceny and assault were significantly correlated with unemployment rates. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.
Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report
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Young and Deadly (California Proposition 21)
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