The overlooked workforce: Harnessing the talent of people with criminal histories

Homeless adults with serious mental illnesses and chronic substance abuse problems have few housing options, a problem compounded when a criminal background is present. This study compared the criminal backgrounds and other characteristics of homeless individuals who succeeded in housing (retained housing continuously for two years) and those who failed in housing. The study population consisted of homeless adults with behavioral health disorders who moved into supportive housing between January 1, 2000, and June 30, 2004, regardless of criminal background. Data about criminal history and other characteristics were extracted from existing records and analyzed for associations with housing success. Chi square tests and logistic regression analysis were used to find characteristics predictive of subsequent housing success or failure. Data were available for 347 participants. Most (51%) had a criminal record, and 72% achieved housing success. The presence of a criminal background did not predict housing failure. Younger age at move-in, the presence of a substance abuse problem, and higher numbers of drug crimes and property crimes were separately associated with more housing failure; however, when they were adjusted for each of the other variables, only move-in age remained associated with the outcome. The finding that criminal history does not provide good predictive information about the potential for housing success is important because it contradicts the expectations of housing operators and policy makers. The findings suggest that policies and practices that keep homeless people with criminal records out of housing may be unnecessarily restrictive.

Most analyses of the intergenerational transmission of criminal justice contacts compare outcomes of the second generation to the criminal history of the first generation. Ignoring the demographic process underlying transmission introduces selection bias into estimates insofar as the first generation's criminal history affects the family formation and the probability of parenthood. I study how differential selection into fatherhood across criminal histories may affect prospective transmission of criminal justice convictions. I use administrative data on the complete fertility patterns and criminal justice history all Danish men born during 1965–1973 and retrospective odds-ratio estimates of intergenerational transmission of criminal justice contacts to estimate prospective transmission of crime and the impact of differential fertility on cohort criminal justice involvement. Seriousness of criminal justice involvement is associated with earlier transition to fatherhood but ultimately higher levels of childlessness. The findings suggest that the existing retrospective estimates of the intergenerational transmission of criminal justice contacts overestimate the population level dynastic transmission. Ignoring differential fertility across criminal justice history leads to upward-biased estimates of how criminal justice involvement is maintained across generations when using retrospective sources. Population-level description of fertility trends has substantial implication for theoretical understanding of how transmission of offending occurs at the population level.

Background:Sychotropic agents (alcohol, drugs, and illicit substances) have an important effect on the occurrence or exacerbation of psychological and behavioral derangements such as criminal activity and mental abnormalities.Objectives:The objective was to assess the relationship between psychiatric distress and criminal history among abusers of intravenous drugs, including heroin, benzodiazepine, codeine, cannabis, opium, and ecstasy.Materials and Methods:Criminal activity history and psychiatric distress were evaluated among intravenous drug abusers in drop-in centers (DIC) (141 subjects) and an outpatient service to delivery methadone to the addicts located in Razy Hospital (Baghdad, Iraq) (120 subjects). Logistic regression analyses using the SPSS for Windows 18.0 were used for analyzing the data. Results:About 86% of the intravenous drug abusers had psychiatric distress and 48.2% had criminal activity history. DIC addicts group had a better mental well-being compared to the other group, but criminal history rate was similar in two groups. In multiple logistic regression, addiction to heroin (odds ratio [OR] = 1.9, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.1 - 4.1), mental disorders (β = 0.060, P = 0.026), and low level of education was highly related with criminal activity (OR = 0.17, 95% CI: 0.03 - 0.89).Conclusions:Higher scores in mental well-being questionnaire of DIC addicts suggest the positive effects of psychological interventions. There is a possibility of the involvement of heroin in occurrence of mental disorders and criminal activity. This finding needs further investigations by larger cohort studies.

There exists a strong relationship between having a criminal history and experiencing barriers to employment. Negative credentials facilitate the social and economic exclusion of individuals with criminal records. However, previous research has not concretely identified whether the stratification of economic opportunities by individual-level criminal records may be further affecting those who demonstrate substance use histories. In this study, we examine the substance use and criminal history profiles of probationers participating in an experimental drug treatment study and how probationer characteristics affect employment outcomes and gross earnings at both the 6- and 12-month follow-up periods. We hypothesize that substance use and criminal history have a main effect and interactional relationship that reduces the odds of self-reporting employment and decreases gross earnings outcomes of probationer. Our results demonstrate that substance use history and criminal history has a main effect on employment and earnings outcomes.

Since 1997, states have begun to make criminal history records publicly available over the Internet. This paper exploits this previously unexamined variation to identify the effect of expanded employer access to criminal history data on the labor market outcomes of ex-offenders and non-offenders. Employers express a strong aversion to hiring ex-offenders, but there is likely asymmetric information about criminal records. Wider availability of criminal history records should adversely affect the labor market outcomes of ex-offenders. A model of statistical discrimination also predicts that non-offenders from groups with high rates of criminal offense should have improved labor market outcomes when criminal history records become more accessible. This paper tests these hypotheses with criminal and labor market histories from the 1997 cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. I find evidence that labor market outcomes are worse for ex-offenders once state criminal history records become available over the Internet. Non-offenders from highly offending groups do not appear, however, to have significantly better labor market outcomes. The sign of the non-offenders estimates are consistent with the predictions of the statistical discrimination model, but the estimates are not significantly different from zero. These estimates may be confounded by a short sample period and ongoing human capital investments, but the research design provides a unique setting for testing theories of statistical discrimination.

Communities across the United States integrate thousands of men and women coming out of jail or prison each year and studies suggest that over 75% of this population will reoffend within a decade of release. According to research, positive employment outcomes are linked to preventing recidivism; however, employers routinely check or inquire about criminal histories and discriminate against ex‐offender applicants. The current research focused on employer stigma against applicants with a criminal history with an online sample of adults (N = 296). The analogue experiment examined hiring decisions for Black versus White applicants with or without a criminal history in order to explore the effect of race and criminal history on hiring outcomes. As expected, participants were less likely to recommend applicants with a criminal history for employment, but the sex of the respondent moderated the differences in racial bias. Male hiring decision makers did not differentiate between applicants with or without a criminal history when presented with a White applicant but did show a stigma against Black ex‐offenders versus Black applicants with a clean criminal history. Female hiring decision makers showed the opposite pattern demonstrating no preference between Black applicants with or without a criminal history but preferring White applicants without a criminal record versus White ex‐offenders. These findings suggest that male and female hiring managers are differently affected by the presence of a criminal history depending on the race of the applicant and these differences if replicated have interesting policy implications.

In this study, we examine how the issue of considering criminal history in college admissions is represented and constructed as a problem in Ban the Box (BTB) policies in Maryland and Louisiana. We draw on Bacchi’s “What’s the Problem Represented to be?” approach as an analytic tool to interrogate key policy artifacts such as legislative histories and hearings and the language of enacted policy. Using a multiple case study design, we ask: (a) What is the “problem” represented to be in each state’s BTB policy?, and (b) What are the potential consequences of this representation of the “problem?” Our findings coalesce with those of policy researchers who emphasize the importance of framing problems within their full context. For instance, we demonstrate how reducing the “problem” to the box ignores real, structural barriers and limits equity-minded policy solutions. Further, while each BTB policy appears similar on the surface, we argue that outcomes will likely vary based on how the issue of considering criminal justice history in college admissions is framed and problematized. We conclude by offering directions for future research and specific recommendations for BTB policy design.

PurposeMany employers express concern over consumer response to employees with criminal histories. However, consumers' responses may be less negative than employers assume. The authors examine consumers' response to organizations that hire employees with criminal histories.Design/methodology/approachThe authors surveyed participants randomly assigned to one of two conditions: purchasing services from an employer that hires individuals with criminal histories or from an employer whose inclination to hire individuals with criminal histories is unknown. The authors considered four service providers, among which the length of customers' time and involvement with employees varies: a grocery store, restaurant, auto-repair shop, and hotel.FindingsParticipants were no more or less likely to patronize the restaurant, the repair shop, or the grocery store that hired individuals with criminal histories, and no more or less likely to alter their willingness to pay for these services. Consumers were less likely to stay at a hotel that hired employees with criminal histories, but this difference was mitigated when customers were provided with an explanation of the benefits of hiring individuals with criminal histories.Research limitations/implicationsThis study highlights the need for further research on perceptions that limit hiring of individuals with criminal histories and other similarly marginalized populations.Practical implicationsThis research addresses a common justification – consumer concern – for not hiring individuals with criminal histories.Social implicationsIncreased employment improves individual outcomes, such as access to stable housing and food, as well as larger outcomes, such as public safety.Originality/valueThis paper highlights a population often marginalized in the hiring process. The findings challenge a common justification for not hiring individuals with criminal histories.

Exposure to project-based Housing First is associated with reduced jail time and bookings

Prior sentencing research indicates that defendants with more extensive criminal histories receive more punitive dispositions and that criminal history influences sentencing decisions over and above its influence on the guideline recommended sentence. To date, these additional effects of criminal history have almost exclusively been treated as linear effects. However, there are plausible reasons to expect that criminal history could have curvilinear effects on sentencing outcomes that taper off at higher scores. The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential curvilinear effects of defendant criminal history on incarceration, sentence length, and downward departure decisions in federal criminal courts. The findings suggest that criminal history has curvilinear effects on each of these sentencing outcomes. As criminal history category increases, defendants receive more severe sentences, net of other factors, but only up to a certain threshold level, at which point criminal history effects taper off and even reverse.

Criminal Typology of Veterans Entering Substance Abuse Treatment

Criminal history has traditionally been a component of any sentence determination. In guideline systems, it has become one of the two axes that determine an offender’s sentence. This FSR Issue focuses largely on the important role criminal history plays in the federal Guidelines, though it also provides an update on recent developments in England. The Contributors to this Issue discuss a host of empirical and legal questions, the resolution of many of which require crucial value judgments and call for a more focused re-thinking of the justifications underlying the federal Guideline structure. This Issue continues FSR’s ongoing coverage of the criminal history category, a topic we have taken up in two other recent Issues. 1 The impetus for this Issue were two recent Sentencing Commission studies on criminal history. One, entitled Measuring Recidivism: The Criminal History Computation of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines examines the predictive statistical power of Chapter Four, as it is currently written. Linda Drazga Maxfield, a senior research associate with the Commission, presents a synopsis of this report in this Issue. The second study focuses on Recidivism and the “First Offender.” It analyzes recidivism rates among federal offenders with little or no criminal history prior to the federal offense at issue. 2 Former Commissioner O’Neill includes some of the major findings of this study in his article in this Issue.

PurposeThis paper aims to explore how incarcerated women prepare to manage the stigma of a criminal history as they look to re-enter the workforce after release from incarceration.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses a qualitative, case study research design including interviews and observations to explore the experiences and self-perceptions of incarcerated women within the context of employment.FindingsFive themes that emerged and influenced the perception of stigma as these incarcerated women prepared for release into the labor market were career self-efficacy, the intersection of identity (women and criminal history), self-perceptions of prison identity, stigma disclosure and social support for employment.Research limitations/implicationsAs the management literature expands to include more diverse and marginalized populations, current understanding of theories and concepts, such as multiple identities and stigma disclosure, may operate differently as compared to traditional management samples.Practical implicationsOrganizations can collaborate with correctional facilities to ensure that individuals with a criminal history are trained and prepared to re-enter the workplace upon release.Social implicationsAs employment is one of the biggest determinants of recidivism (i.e. return to incarceration) for individuals with a criminal history, organizations have the unique ability to assist in substantially decreasing the incarcerated population.Originality/valueThis study explores criminal history and highlights some of the nuances to consider when exploring an understudied and marginalized population, such as women with a criminal history.

Recent research shows that drug-involved offenders engage in many health-risky behaviors, but relatively little is known about the impact of criminal history on the health of these individuals. In this study, criminal history and health information was collected from 661 male drug-abusing prisoners. Findings showed that having a more extensive criminal history was associated with higher rates of overall physical health problems but not mental health problems. Although no relationship between mental health and crime was observed, future research on the connection between psychological problems and criminal history is discussed. Years of lifetime use of five different drugs was positively related to criminal history. In terms of health services utilization, offenders with more serious criminal histories were more likely to have received previous medical treatment in a hospital emergency room and to have received treatment for drug or alcohol abuse.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is positively associated with involvement in the criminal justice system among veterans. Research that examines whether this association is confounded by risk factors ("criminogenic needs") from the risk-need-responsivity model of correctional rehabilitation can inform risk management with this population. We hypothesized that (a) veterans with probable PTSD would score higher on all criminogenic needs than veterans without PTSD and (b) probable PTSD would be associated with criminal history but not after accounting for criminogenic needs. We conducted secondary analyses of data from 341 veterans (95.3% male; 57.8% White/non-Hispanic/Latinx; Mage = 46.2 years) with a history of criminal justice system involvement who were admitted to mental health residential treatment. At treatment entry, participants completed interviews to assess criminal history, risk-need-responsivity-based criminogenic needs, and PTSD symptom severity. Cross-sectional analyses tested for differences between participants with and without probable PTSD on criminogenic needs and criminal history, and a multiple regression model examined the unique contributions of probable PTSD and criminogenic needs on criminal history. The majority of the sample (74%, n = 251) met probable criteria for PTSD. Compared with veterans without PTSD, those with probable PTSD scored significantly higher on criminogenic needs of antisocial personality patterns, antisocial cognitions, antisocial associates, substance use, and family/marital dysfunction but did not differ on multiple indices of criminal history (Cohen's ds = 0.60-0.86). In the regression model, higher age (β = 0.52, p < .001) and higher scores on measures of antisocial personality patterns (β = 0.19, p = .04) and antisocial cognitions (β = 0.22, p = .02) were significantly associated with higher scores on a criminal history index. The findings suggest that veterans with probable PTSD may score higher on a number of criminogenic needs that are known to be drivers of recidivism. An approach that integrates trauma-informed and risk-need-responsivity principles to address veterans' dynamic criminogenic and clinical needs may be critical to risk management in this population. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).