Ex-Offender Employment, Recidivism, and Manpower Policy: CETA, TJTC, and Future Initiatives

Abstract

Over the past several decades, there have been many programs to reduce the continuing high level of ex-offender unemployment. These policies were often part of broader federal efforts to improve the labor market position of the disadvantaged. However, these traditional labor market policies have had disappointing outcomes, leading to dissatisfaction and skepticism about programs to alleviate ex-offender unemployment. This article reviews federal ex-offender employment initiatives with particular attention to the Targeted Jobs Tax Credit (TJTC), a program providing employers with tax deductions for hiring ex-offenders. Our analysis indicates that this credit (like other employment programs for ex-offenders) has had marginal impact at best. We suggest reasons why this is so, focusing on the specific problems of employing ex-offenders, and the general weaknesses of targeted employment strategies that rely on tax incentives. We conclude with some speculations about possible new directions for ex-offender employment programs.

Help Wanted: A Survey of Employer Concerns About Hiring Ex-Convicts

“…Given that it is not feasible to require individuals to get to know others who are different from them, we need alternative strategies to encourage the hiring of ex-convicts. In general, financial incentives are strong motivators, although Jacobs et al (1984) found that the effectiveness of offering tax credits for employers of ex-convicts was limited. It is tempting to believe, however, that money is nevertheless a critical factor in helping ex-offenders adjust to the outside world.…”

Understanding and Controlling Crime

“…For example, a recent review of the accomplishments of the Targeted Jobs Tax Credit program, passed as part of the Revenue Act of 1978, proved essentially negative (Jacobs, McGahey, and Minion, 1984). In both the Waller and Glaser studies of federal prisoners in Canada and the United States, the employment problem seemed to be less a matter of stigmatization and more a matter of lack of skills, experience, or a regular work history.…”

Crime and rehabilitation: Correctional education as an agent of change—A research note

“…The Bureau of Justice Statistics' 1991 survey of state prison inmates, for example, revealed that 65 percent of the inmates sampled had less than a twelfth-grade education; about one-third indicated that they were unemployed at the time of arrest; and one-third had annual incomes of less than $5,000 (Greenfield and Beck 1993). If correctional education enhances employability and simultaneously increases offenders' earning power upon release, then reductions in recidivism would appear to be a logical expectation of such programs (Enocksson 1981;Jacobs, McGahey, and Minion 1984).…”