Work and Family Perspectives on Reentry

Breaking Down Barriers: Experiments into Policies That Might Incentivize Employers to Hire Ex-Offenders

“…• Members of this population have lower levels of education and job experience, even prior to incarceration, than nonoffenders (Freeman, 1992;Uggen, Wakefield, and Western, 2005) • Labor market absences resulting from incarceration may lead to additional depreciation of human capital, further reducing individuals' productivity (Becker, 1975) Poor health • Ex-offenders have higher rates of physical or mental health problems (Petersilia, 2000;James and Glaze, 2006;Morgan et al, 2010) • Ex-offenders have higher rates of substance use disorders (Fazel, Bains, and Doll, 2006;Chandler, Fletcher, and Volkow, 2009) • Ex-offenders have higher rates of comorbidities, specifically substance use disorders and serious mental illness (National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, 2013) Poor social skills • Incarceration can deteriorate social skills needed for the labor market or lead to the dissolution of a social network connected to legitimate job prospects (Hagan, 1993) In this conceptualization of labor market discrimination, the preferences or biases of employers are fixed and concentrated among a subgroup of employers-e.g., "felon-unfriendly industries." Because it is relatively costly to pursue jobs in felonunfriendly industries, Fryer and Levitt (2004) recommend that ex-offenders avoid these employers and only seek jobs with more-accepting hiring policies.…”

Reentry and the Ties that Bind: An Examination of Social Ties, Employment, and Recidivism

“…But empirical evidence generally shows that formal credentials are often "insufficient to convey the social skills and resources so essential" (Lin, 2001) for the acquisition of a job. Given that ex-prisoners are often severely disadvantaged in terms of their credentials upon release, including their reputations, then social networks are especially relevant to their ability to secure a steady job (Braman, 2004;Petersilia, 2003; see also Uggen, Wakefield, & Western, 2005).…”

“…For instance, recent estimates show that roughly one-third of 25-34-year-old male inmates in state prisons held a high school diploma compared to 90% of males of the same age in the general population (Uggen et al, 2005). Whereas roughly 80% of 25-34-year-old non-imprisoned males were employed full-time, only 55% of inmates in the same demographic group reported being employed at the time of their most recent arrest.…”

“…A history of irregular work and inadequate qualifications signals to potential employers that applicants are relatively poor candidates for an open position. Some scholars speculate that spending time in prison may further erode existing job skills and embed offenders into criminal networks as behaviors that are adaptive to prison life and street offending may be detrimental to working a job (Maruna & Toch, 2005;Uggen et al, 2005).…”

Bridge to Opportunities: How One Probation Agency Developed a Program Designed to Connect Probationers to High-Wage Jobs

“…• Low productivity because of limited education and work experience (Freeman, 1992;Uggen, Wakefield, and Western, 2005) • Low social capital (Hagan, 1993) • Concern about low productivity (Giguere and Dundes, 2002) • Concern about absenteeism and reliability (Holzer, Raphael, and Stoll, 2004) • Negligent liability concerns (Giguere and Dundes, 2002) The Probation Department partnered with the Northern California Construction Training (NCCT) program and the Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE) to implement the program. NCCT is a nonprofit community-based organization that trains people for careers in construction trades.…”