Employment Opportunities and Crime

• NCJ Number: 75682
• Author(s): S L Myers
• Date Published: 1980
• Length: 186 pages
• Grant Number(s): 79-NI-AX-0073; SOC-7908295; RF-78047
• Sponsoring Agency: National Science Foundation; Rockefeller Foundation; National Institute of Justice (NIJ); US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

A study of 2,500 ex-felons released from the U.S. Federal prison system in 1972 and of 432 high-risk male repeat offenders participating in a cash-subsidy program in Baltimore explored the relationship between improved employment opportunities and crime reduction, and the effects of criminal history and disadvantaged backgrounds on ex-offenders' employment prospects.

Abstract

Employment opportunities were measured by preprison work experience and postprison unemployment, hours worked, and wages. Participation in crime was determined by convictions, arrests, and time served before release from prison and by rearrest and parole violations after release from prison. Multiple regression analysis, nonlinear least squares, and maximum-likelihood methods were employed to obtain estimates of both the effects of employment on crime and the effects of other variables on employment in linear, log-linear, and logistic model specifications. Results showed that criminal history has a weak and insignificant effect on post-prison employment. In addition, success in the labor market after imprisonment hinges largely on whether the ex-offender had a job arranged, whether the ex-offender became employed during the first few months after release from prison, and how many hours were worked in the first 6 months out of prison. Moreover, substantial differences were found in postprison employment experiences of black and white exoffenders, and there were also significant racial differences in recidivism rates. Results also indicated that better wages reduce crime. The findings suggest that policies designed to improved employment performance of ex-offenders should be implemented immediately upon release from prison and that the most disadvantaged of ex-offenders are most likely to be responsive to employment intervention strategies. Wage subsidies seem to be a more promising strategy for reducing recidivism than are other interventions. A bibliography of 37 references is included. Graphs and tables are also provided.