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Improving Employment Prospects for Former Prison Inmates: Challenges and Policy

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  • Steven Raphael

Abstract

This paper analyzes the employment prospects of former prison inmates and reviews recent evaluations of reentry programs that either aim to improve employment among the formerly incarcerated or aim to reduce recidivism through treatment interventions centered on employment. I present an empirical portrait of the U.S. prison population and prison releases using nationally representative survey data. I characterize the personal traits of state and federal prison inmates, including their level of educational attainment and age as well as the health and mental health issues that occur with high frequency among this population. I then turn to the demand side of this particular segment of the U.S. labor market. Using a 2003 survey of California establishments, I characterize employers' preferences with regards to hiring convicted felons into non-managerial, non-professional jobs, the degree to which employers check criminal history records, and the incidence of legal prohibitions against hiring convicted felons. I conduct multivariate analyses of the impact of checking criminal backgrounds on the likelihood of hiring workers of difference race/gender combinations, using legal prohibition against hiring felons as an instrument for checking. Finally, I review the research evidence evaluating programmatic efforts to improve employment prospects and reduce recidivism among former prison inmates.

Suggested Citation

  • Steven Raphael, 2010. "Improving Employment Prospects for Former Prison Inmates: Challenges and Policy," NBER Working Papers 15874, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15874
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Barrios-Fernandez, Mauricio Andres & Garcia Hombrados, Jorge, 2021. "Recidivism and neighborhood institutions: evidence from the rise of the evangelical church in Chile," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 114355, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Kevin T. Schnepel, 2018. "Good Jobs and Recidivism," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(608), pages 447-469, February.
    3. Marguerite Burns & Laura Dague, 2023. "In-Kind Welfare Benefits and Reincarceration Risk: Evidence from Medicaid," NBER Working Papers 31394, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Christopher R. Bollinger & Aaron Yelowitz, 2021. "Targeting intensive job assistance to ex‐offenders by the nature of offense: Results from a randomized control trial," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 59(3), pages 1308-1327, July.
    5. Riccardo Ciacci, 2023. "On the economic determinants of prostitution: marriage compensation and unilateral divorce in U.S. states," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 941-1017, September.
    6. Yang, Crystal S., 2017. "Local labor markets and criminal recidivism," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 16-29.
    7. Dasgupta, Kabir & Diegmann, André & Kirchmaier, Tom & Plum, Alexander, 2022. "The gender reveal: The effect of sons on young fathers’ criminal behavior and labor market activities," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    8. O. Emre Ergungor & Nelson Oliver, 2013. "The Employability of Returning Citizens Is Key to Neighborhood Revitalization," Economic Commentary, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, issue 11.
    9. Candace Hamilton Hester & Chris Meyer & Steven Raphael, 2012. "The Evolution of Gender Employment Rate Differentials within Racial Groups in the United States," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 41(2), pages 385-418.
    10. Giovanni Mastrobuoni & Daniele Terlizzese, 2014. "Harsh or Human? Detention Conditions and Recidivism," EIEF Working Papers Series 1413, Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance (EIEF), revised May 2018.
    11. Christian Brown, 2019. "Incarceration and Earnings: Distributional and Long-Term Effects," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 58-83, March.
    12. Blakeslee, David & Chaurey, Ritam & Fishman, Ram & Malghan, Deepak & Malik, Samreen, 2021. "In the heat of the moment: Economic and non-economic drivers of the weather-crime relationship," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 832-856.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J7 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination

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