Employment and Crime - An Issue of Race

• NCJ Number: 85542
• Journal: Urban League Review Volume: 6 Issue: 1 Dated: (Fall 1981) Pages: 9-24
• Author(s): S L Myers
• Date Published: 1981
• Length: 16 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study summarizes empirical evidence on the relationship between employment and crime and outlines how racial discrimination links outcomes in the labor market and in the criminal justice system.

Abstract

Studies tend to show that having a criminal record restricts the type of occupation a person can enter, increases the chances of dismissal from a job, and generally increases the likelihood that a person will be unemployed. There also appear to be discernible effects of poor employment opportunities on participation in crime. Blacks are disproportionately caught up in these employment disadvantages, because they compose 47 percent of the prison population while accounting for only 11 percent of the U.S. population. Reasons for the crime rate differentials between blacks and whites are debated, but whether blacks in fact engage in proportionately more crime than whites or are unfairly discriminated against, the outcome is the same; blacks, because of their disproportionate involvement in the criminal justice system, have the employment difficulties associated with being an ex-offender. Further, studies have shown that blacks, whether or not they are ex-offenders, receive lower wages than white workers, are disproportionately represented in menial occupations, have higher turnover rates, and consistently have higher unemployment rates. This tends to load the circumstances of blacks with influences toward crime, assuming that crime will pay better than employment or unemployment and that behavior stems from self-interested, strictly monetary calculations. Labor market intervention strategies for ex-offenders have tended to fail, largely because they have not recognized the interface among racism, labor markets, and the criminal justice system. When such an interface is acknowledged and incorporated into the overall strategy, such programs may prove to be more effective. Seven notes and 27 references are provided, along with some tabular data.