NCJ Number
121671
Journal
Journal of Correctional Education Volume: 40 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1989) Pages: 130-135
Date Published
1989
Length
6 pages
Annotation
Many researchers, investigating committees at local, State, and Federal levels and assistance agencies have occupied themselves with the assumed relationship between unemployment and crime.
Abstract
Many psychologists and sociologists, when they theorize about crime and criminal behavior, identify unemployment as a causal factor (Wilson, et al., 1981). CETA (Comprehensive Employment and Training Act) officials, in a study, made the same link. The majority of prisoners have a serious educational deficit which, much inmate education literature indicates (Yarborough, 1982), leads to economic lockout and on to serious crime. However, of late, educational programs (basic educational, secondary and post secondary) have been instituted around the country in prisons in order to, hopefully, send back to society a more functional ex-inmate. These programs have been spotty in their success. Many agree that this irregularity could be because of the low persistence or high drop out rate of inmates who enroll in these programs. The question then becomes: why is there such a high drop out rate among inmates who enroll in higher education programs? An analysis of the attendance and dropout rates of the Inmate Education Program at Brewton-Parker College, which has been contracted to provide higher education for eight correctional institutions in the State of Georgia, was done for academic year 1986-7. Data were gathered from various sources: college computerized enrollment and dropout statistics; personnel working with inmates; and, inmates themselves. There is an attempt to analyze and explain the high dropout rate. This paper gives an analysis of the data gathered from various sources. Also present are conclusions, implications and recommendations. 2 tables, bibliography. (Author abstract)