Barriers to Reentry? : The Labor Market for Released Prisoners in Post-Industrial America

With the introduction of more aggressive policing, prosecution, and sentencing since the late 1970s, the number of Americans in prison has increased dramatically. While many have credited these "get tough" policies with lowering violent crime rates, we are only just beginning to understand the broader costs of mass incarceration. In Barriers to Reentry? experts on labor markets and the criminal justice system investigate how imprisonment affects ex-offenders' employment prospects, and how the challenge of finding work after prison affects the likelihood that they will break the law again and return to prison. The authors examine the intersection of imprisonment and employment from many vantage points, including employer surveys, interviews with former prisoners, and state data on prison employment programs and post-incarceration employment rates. Ex-prisoners face many obstacles to re-entering the job market―from employers' fears of negligent hiring lawsuits to the lost opportunities for acquiring work experience while incarcerated. In a study of former prisoners, Becky Pettit and Christopher Lyons find that employment among this group was actually higher immediately after their release than before they were incarcerated, but that over time their employment rate dropped to their pre-imprisonment levels. Exploring the demand side of the equation, Harry Holzer, Steven Raphael, and Michael Stoll report on their survey of employers in Los Angeles about the hiring of former criminals, in which they find strong evidence of pervasive hiring discrimination against ex-prisoners. Devah Pager finds similar evidence of employer discrimination in an experiment in which Milwaukee employers were presented with applications for otherwise comparable jobseekers, some of whom had criminal records and some of whom did not. Such findings are particularly troubling in light of research by Steven Raphael and David Weiman which shows that ex-criminals are more likely to violate parole if they are unemployed. In a concluding chapter, Bruce Western warns that prison is becoming the norm for too many inner-city minority males; by preventing access to the labor market, mass incarceration is exacerbating inequality. Western argues that, ultimately, the most successful policies are those that keep young men out of prison in the first place. Promoting social justice and reducing recidivism both demand greater efforts to reintegrate former prisoners into the workforce. Barriers to Reentry? cogently underscores one of the major social costs of incarceration, and builds a compelling case for rethinking the way our country rehabilitates criminals. This Volume Originally Grew Out Of The Joint Russell Sage Foundtion And Rockefeller Foundation Research Program On The Future Of Work--p. Ix. The Regime Of Mass Incarceration : A Labor Market Perspective / David F. Weiman, Michael A. Stoll, And Shawn Bushway -- Finding Work On The Outside : Results From The Returning Home Project In Chicago / Christy A. Visher And Vera Kachnowski -- The Effect Of An Applicant's Criminal History On Employer Hiring Decisions And Screening Practices : Evidence From Los Angeles / Harry J. Holzer, Steven Raphael, And Michael A. Stoll -- Two Strikes And You're Out : The Intensification Of Racial And Criminal Stigma / Devah Pager -- Private Providers Of Criminal History Records : Do You Get What You Pay For? / Shauna Briggs ... [et Al.] -- Status And The Stigma Of Incarceration : The Labor Market Effects Of Incarceration, By Race, Class, And Criminal Involvement / Becky Pettit And Christopher Lyons -- Prison-based Education And Re-entry Into The Mainstream Labor Market / John H. Tyler And Jeffrey R. Kling -- Local Labor Market Conditions And Post-prison Employment Experiences Of Offenders Released From Ohio State Prisons / William J. Sabol -- The Impact Of Local Labor Market Conditions On The Likelihood That Parolees Are Returned To Custody / Steven Raphael And David F. Weiman -- The Penal System And The Labor Market / Bruce Western. Shawn Bushway, Michael A. Stoll, And David F. Weiman, Editors. This Volume Originally Grew Out Of The Joint Russell Sage Foundation And Rockefeller Foundation Research Program On The Future Of Work--p. Ix. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. title page copyright Table of Contents About the Authors Preface Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 The Regime of Mass Incarceration: A Labor-Market Perspective Chapter 3 Finding Work on the Outside: Results from the “Returning Home” Project in Chicago Chapter 4 The Effect of an Applicant’s Criminal History on Employer Hiring Decisions and Screening Practices: Evidence from Los Angeles Chapter 5 Two Strikes and You’re Out: The Intensification of Racial and Criminal Stigma Chapter 6 Private Providers of Criminal History Records: Do You Get What You Pay For? Chapter 7 Status and the Stigma of Incarceration: The Labor-Market Effects of Incarceration, by Race, Class, and Criminal Involvement Chapter 8 Prison-Based Education and Reentry into the Mainstream Labor Market Chapter 9 Local Labor-Market Conditions and Post-Prison Employment Experiences of Offenders Released from Ohio State Prisons Chapter 10 The Impact of Local Labor-Market Conditions on the Likelihood that Parolees Are Returned to Custody Chapter 11 The Penal System and the Labor Market Index