Research has consistently revealed that released offenders, if unemployed and uneducated, would likely become recidivist offenders. This study was a 5-year follow-up study (2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009) of 6,561 offenders who were released from the Indiana Department of Correction (IDOC) to five metropolitan counties during the calendar year 2005. It examined the effect of education and postrelease employment on recidivism among those released offenders. Results of this study revealed that an offender's education and employment were the most important predictors of postrelease recidivism. In other words, offenders would likely return to the IDOC custody if they were unemployed. This study's results provided evidence that offenders who had not completed high school were likely to become recidivist offenders. This study also revealed that younger offenders were likely to become recidivist Article Lockwood et al.381 offenders after their release from the IDOC custody. In addition, African American offenders, rather than Caucasian offenders, were likely to become recidivist offenders. The recidivism rate among the offenders who had a college education was 31.0%, but the recidivism rate increased to 55.9% among the offenders who had an education below high school.

Previous studies, both international and domestic, rarely examined racial disparities in post-release employment and recidivism. Finding a job is an immediate challenge to all ex-prisoners, and often more difficult for African American ex-prisoners who typically return to economically-depressed neighborhoods upon release from prison. The present researchers conducted a 5-year (2005-2009) follow-up study in an attempt to understand racial disparities in post-release employment and recidivism among 6,394 ex-prisoners (2,531 Caucasian ex-prisoners and 3,863 African American ex-prisoners), while controlling for the ex-prisoner's level of education. Results of this study showed that African American ex-prisoners had a higher unemployment rate and recidivism rate than Caucasian ex-prisoners. This study also revealed that ex-prisoners, if employed, would likely be under-employed and experience difficulties in sustaining employment, regardless of the ex-prisoner's race. Most importantly, post-release employment and level of education were the two most influential predictors to recidivism among ex-prisoners, regardless of race.