The Impact of Disability and Type of Crime on Employment Outcomes of African American and Latino Offenders

Abstract

Individuals with criminal histories who struggle to gain employment may choose to turn to illegal activity or seek state and federal program assistance to support themselves and their families. African Americans and Hispanic/Latinos with disabilities and criminal histories experience barriers (i.e., disability, criminal history, and race/ethnicity) that often prevent them from obtaining or maintaining competitive integrated employment. The purpose of this article was to examine the extant literature pertinent to disability and criminal history as employment obstacles among African American and Hispanic/Latino ex-offenders. As the foundation, the article categorizes employment outcomes for these target population by disability and criminal history, discusses how state vocational rehabilitation agencies can develop a criminal history service delivery model to improve employment outcomes, presents implications for improving employment outcomes, and explores future research.