Recidivism is one of the most important aspects of the United States criminal justice system and easily the most studied metric. The National Institute of Justice defines recidivism as follows:¹

“Recidivism is measured by criminal acts that resulted in rearrest, re-conviction or return to prison with or without a new sentence during a three-year period following the person’s release.”

Recidivism, or ‘to recidivate,’ means to return to previous behavior. In the criminal justice field, it means to return to criminal behavior. Jails, prisons, legislative bodies, public safety groups, law enforcement, courts, and society share a common interest in reducing recidivism. Thankfully, it seems formerly incarcerated persons finding employment post-incarceration can significantly improve former offenders’ quality of life while reducing their odds of returning to crime.

What the Findings Show

A report by the Brookings Institution found that incarcerated people tend to be undereducated and underemployed. Two-fifths of prisoners do not have a high school degree, a rate three times higher than the general population. A criminal record plus a lack of educational attainment leads to stigma, with employers being more hesitant to hire such individuals. That leads to higher unemployment rates among the formerly incarcerated, which often places them in the same tenuous life situations that led them to commit crimes in the first place.²

According to the Prison Policy Initiative, formerly incarcerated people are unemployed at a rate of over 27%. Not only is that figure significantly higher than the current overall unemployment rate (3.4%), it is higher than the unemployment rate during any historical period, including the Great Depression. That is not because formerly incarcerated people do not want to work (the findings show 93.3% of unemployed former offenders are seeking jobs, compared to 83.8% of unemployed non-offenders seeking jobs). Rather, the labor market is stigmatized against the formerly incarcerated, making it more difficult for such individuals to find work.³

Unfortunately, this often leads to a vicious cycle and high recidivism. Much of U.S. crimes are crimes of perceived necessity (like theft), so offenders commit crimes, go to prison, serve a sentence, are released, seek employment, are unable to find employment, go into poverty, commit crimes in an effort to escape poverty (theft, drug dealing, check fraud), and the cycle repeats. Conversely, when formerly incarcerated people secure gainful employment, they can improve their economic condition, and their likelihood of returning to crime plummets.

Formerly Incarcerated Persons Should Have Support in Finding Employment

A report commissioned by the Urban Institute’s Justice Policy Center analyzed post-incarceration data for three U.S. states. According to the findings, formerly incarcerated people who earned a consistent wage were less likely to return to prison within one year of release than former offenders who did not find consistent employment.⁴

Further, the report showed former offenders who held a job while in prison and/or who participated in job-training programs while incarcerated had better employment outcomes after release. That suggests prisons and community corrections institutions can influence whether or not an offender will recidivate post-release simply by ensuring that the offender is primed and prepared for employment as soon as they finish their sentence.

The findings could not be more clear:

1. Formerly incarcerated people struggle to find work and experience higher unemployment rates than the overall population, despite being more active in seeking jobs than non-formerly incarcerated unemployed individuals.
2. There is a direct link between full employment, a moderate, consistent wage, and reduced recidivism.
3. Prisons, community corrections programs, policymakers, and communities can directly influence whether or not formerly incarcerated people can find work.

With that in mind, every community, county, state government, court, prison, criminal reform institution, and criminal justice public interest group should advocate for programs that make it easier for formerly incarcerated people to find and attain consistent, meaningful work. There are many ways to do this, such as subsidy incentives for companies that hire formerly incarcerated people, apprenticeship programs in trades-focused companies, and community organizations that connect with people as soon as they leave prison and help them find work as soon as possible. Further, prisons, parole boards, and probation officers can create programs that ensure an offender already has a job waiting for them when they complete their sentence.

Sources:

1. NIJ. “Recidivism.” National Institute of Justice, 2023. nij.ojp.gov
2. Brookings. “A better path forward for criminal justice: Training and employment for correctional populations.” Brookings Institute, 2021. brookings.edu
3. PPI. “Out of Prison & Out of Work: Unemployment among formerly incarcerated people.” Prison Policy Initiative, 2018. prisonpolicy.org
4. UI. “Employment after Prison: A Longitudinal Study of Releasees in Three States.” Urban Institute: Justice Policy Center, 2008. urban.org