Debt to Society: Asset Poverty and Prisoner Reentry

Martin, Lori Latrice

doi:10.1007/s12114-011-9087-1

Cited by 19 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…While this study does indeed find that marriage is related to avoiding economic hardship, the findings, then, reinforce policy efforts aimed at education, job skills and placement, and training (Heinrich & Holzer, 2011;Martin, 2011;National Research Council, 2014). Generally, programs and policies that might help to prevent income poverty particularly among economically disadvantaged young men include (1) youth development policies, (2) programs seeking to improve educational attainment and employment for in-school youths, and (3) programs that try to reintegrate those who are out-of-school and/or out-of-work, including public employment programs (Heinrich & Holzer, 2011).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 54%

Early Incarceration, Marriage, and the Risk of Poverty Across the Life Course: Evidence from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study

Kim

Brake

2021

J of Pol Practice & Research

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This research examined whether the putative effect of incarceration on income poverty over the life course differs by marital status among a sample of male high school graduates. The purpose was to better understand the effects of imprisonment on a study population with relatively stronger economic prospects who have not been the focus of prior studies on the topic. Data were drawn from the 1975, 1992, and 2004 waves of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study to yield an analytic sample of 2678 male high school graduates. We then estimated discrete-time hazard models to investigate (1) whether incarceration is associated with marital dissolution among married men, (2) whether incarceration is associated with marriage among unmarried men, and whether the effect of incarceration on income poverty differs by marital status among an aggregated sample of both married and unmarried men. Event history analysis revealed that men who experienced incarceration before age 25 were significantly more likely to fall into income poverty relative to men who were never incarcerated. However, men who experienced incarceration after marriage were also significantly more likely to separate or divorce, and unmarried men who experienced incarceration were significantly less likely to marry in the first place. The results imply that marriage as a path towards avoiding economic hardship in old age is seldom available to returning prisoners. Thus, the findings reinforce policy efforts aimed at education, job skills, and training as well as comprehensive family case management programs for formerly incarcerated individuals, couples, and families.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 54%

Early Incarceration, Marriage, and the Risk of Poverty Across the Life Course: Evidence from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study

Kim

Brake

2021

J of Pol Practice & Research

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“…Debt, which may already be high at the time of incarceration, accumulates further during time behind bars. While some of this debt may be related to court fees or other expenses, child support debt can reach unmanageable levels for formerly incarcerated noncustodial fathers (Holzer, Offner, and Sorensen 2005;Geller, Garfinkel, and Western 2011;Martin 2011). While jobs in the primary labor market are almost inaccessible to record-holding job seekers, noncustodial fathers that do successfully obtain formal work may have their earnings taxed as much as 60 to 80 percent and, in addition, may have wages garnished (Holzer, Offner, and Sorensen 2005).…”

Section: Background Legal Consciousness and The "Double Bind"mentioning

confidence: 99%

Working around the Law: Navigating Legal Barriers to Employment during Reentry

Augustine¹

2019

Law Soc. Inq.

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Employment has been cited as one of the most effective protections against recidivism for formerly incarcerated people; however, job seekers with criminal records face barriers to employment after prison. They find themselves in a legal double bind where they are simultaneously compelled to obey the law (by finding “legit” work) but also legally barred from doing so. To navigate this conflictual legal positioning, job seekers with felony records develop strategies of working around the law to find employment. Through thirty qualitative interviews with people with felony records, I examine this alternative form of legal consciousness and detail the ways in which individuals navigate the legal barriers to acquiring “good” work. Ultimately, job seekers’ often extralegal strategies of law abidance blur the line between compliance with and defiance of the law.

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“…Despite the wide-ranging structural barriers to finding work and the enormous challenges of entering the workforce through undesirable jobs, reintegration programs often focus on preparing their clients for work rather than job creation (Hallett, 2012; Martin, 2011; Wacquant, 2010). Efforts are devoted to enhancing “work readiness”, skill training for interviewing and minimal job performance.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Bad jobs and good workers: The hiring of ex-prisoners in a segmented economy

Bumiller

2014

Theoretical Criminology

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Scholarship focusing on barriers to the employment of ex-prisoners has paid little attention to the linkages between mass incarceration and the structural conditions of low wage labor. In contrast, this article considers how decisions to hire ex-prisoners occur in the context of a highly segregated labor market. The research is based upon interviews with employers who are willing to hire persons exiting prisons. These employers were queried about their motivations for hiring, perceptions of their employees with criminal records, and their beliefs about fairness and justice. The interviews show that a strong motivating factor for hiring was finding a "good worker to do a bad job", but also that decisions were influenced by employers' common sense norms derived from surviving at the bottom of the economy. Despite the willingness of employers to offer "second chances" and make small allowances, these factors were insufficient to counteract the obstacles to sustainable employment.

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Debt to Society: Asset Poverty and Prisoner Reentry

Abstract: Asset poverty, Prisoner reentry,

Cited by 19 publications

References 16 publications

Early Incarceration, Marriage, and the Risk of Poverty Across the Life Course: Evidence from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study

Early Incarceration, Marriage, and the Risk of Poverty Across the Life Course: Evidence from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study

Working around the Law: Navigating Legal Barriers to Employment during Reentry

Bad jobs and good workers: The hiring of ex-prisoners in a segmented economy

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