Offender Reentry and Employment

“This dissertation was an exploratory examination of offender re-entry and employment programming as contextualized by Bushway & Apel (2012) using the Serious and Violent Offender Re-entry Initiative (SVORI) Data. Propensity scores were used to examine both weighted and un-weighted logistic regression models. Logistic regression models indicated that inmate participation in employment programming during a term of incarceration increased employment rates for females at nine and fifteen months after their release but did not increase employment rates for males. In addition, participation in employment programming during a term of incarceration did not significantly reduce re-arrest rates among either gender. However, participation in community based employment programming significantly increased employment rates among females at three and nine months following their release and significantly increased male employment rates at three, nine, and fifteen months after their release. Participation in community based employment programming following a term of incarceration significantly reduced re-arrest rates among both genders for the time periods examined. Theoretical implications were explored” (p.ix).(Abstractor : Author)

• “Examination of the models according to the first employment hypothesis, which states male offenders who participate in voluntary employment programming during their term of incarceration are more likely to obtain employment than male offenders who do not at three, nine, and fifteen months after their release from incarceration, is not supported by the data in this analysis” (p.112). • Lastly, age effects which indicate that younger offenders are significantly less likely to obtain employment are observed at three and nine months but do not persist after nine months. This finding is similar to Uggan and Staff (2001) who found that older adults are more likely to obtain and retain employment than younger adults. In addition, older adults were more likely to make substantive life changes as a result of their employment. As a result, younger higher risk offenders are more unstable than higher risk older offenders as indicated by [older offenders’] ability to obtain employment after their release from incarceration” (p.114-115). (Abstractor: Author)

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2013
• Author(s): Drury, Alan
• Organizational Author(s): Iowa State University
• Funding Source: Iowa State University
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
• Posted by: Melissa Mack
• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies