Ex-offenders with disabilities encounter barriers with obtaining employment upon post-release. Offender status may affect not only opportunities for employment, but earnings as well for ex-offenders with disabilities.
OBJECTIVE:
The purpose of this study is to discuss barriers to employment for ex-offenders with disabilities and to identify how racial/ethnically marginalized ex-offenders are disproportionately unemployed and earn less than their White counterparts.
METHODS:
Descriptive and multivariate statistical analyses utilizing archival Rehabilitation Services Administration Case Service Report (RSA-911) data from fiscal years 2004– 2013 was employed.
RESULTS:
Findings indicated that African American ex-offenders with disabilities are employed at higher rates than both Hispanic and White ex-offenders but earn less than both of these groups.
CONCLUSIONS:
Implications for VR service providers, training and policy reform are discussed.
Abel,R., & Horney,J. (2017). How and why does work matter? Employment conditions, routine activities, and crime among adult male offenders. Criminology55(2), 307–343.
2.
Becker,D. R., & Drake,R. E. (2006). Supported employment interventions are effective for people with severe mental illness. Evidence-Based Mental Health9, 22. 10.1136/ebmh.9.1.22
3.
Bennett,T., Holloway,K., & Farrington,D. (2008). The statistical association between drug misuse and crime: A meta-analysis. Aggression and Violent Behavior13(2), 107–118. 10.1016/j.avb.2008.02.001
4.
Blumstein,A. (1993). Racial disproportionality of U.S. prison populations revisited. University of Colorado Law Review64(3), 743–760.
Darakai,A., Day,A., & Graffam,J. (2017). Public attitudes towards the employment of ex-offenders with a disability. Journal of Intellectual Disabilities and offending Behavior8(1), 3–12. 10.1108/JIDOB-11-2016-0021
Dowden,A., R., EthridgeG., & Brooks,M. (2016). The impact criminal history has on the employability of African American and Latino populations with disabilities receiving state vocational rehabilitation services: Implications for adding a criminal history variable to the RSA-911 data. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation45(2), 213–224. 10.3233/JVR-160824
15.
Elliott,D. S. (1994). Serious violent offenders: Onset, developmental course and termination. Criminology32(1), 1–22. 10.1111/j.1745-9125.1994.tb01144.x
16.
Fleming,A. R., Del Valle,R., Kim,M., & Leahy,M. J. (2012). Best practices models of effective vocational rehabilitation service delivery in the public rehabilitation program: A review and synthesis of the empirical literature. Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin56(3), 146–159. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0034355212459661
17.
Giordano,P. C., Cernkovich,S. A., & Rudolph,J. L. (2002). Gender, crime and desistance: Toward a theory of cognitive transformation. American Journal of Sociology107, 990–1064. 10.1086/343191
18.
Glynn,M. (2016). Towards an intersectional model of desistance for black offenders. Safer Communities, 15(1), 24–32. 10.1108/SC-05-2015-0016
Harding,D. J., Wyse,J. J. B., Dobson,C., & Morenoff,J. D. (2014). Making ends meet after prison. Journal of Policy Anal Manage, 33(2), 440–470. 10.1002/pam.21741
21.
Holzer,H. J., Raphael,S., & Stoll,M. A. (2003). Employment barriers facing ex- offenders. Employment dimension of reentry: Understanding the nexus between prisoner reentry and work. New York University Law School, The Urban Institute Reentry Roundtable.
22.
Kansal,T., & Mauer,M. (2005). Racial disparity in sentencing: A review of the literature. The Sentencing Project.
Lyons,C. J., & Pettit,B. (2011). Compound disadvantage: Race, incarceration, and wage growth. Social Problems58(2), 257–280. 10.1525/sp.2011.58.2.257
26.
Moore,K., Stuewig,J., & Tangney,J. P. (2013). Jail inmates’ perceived and anticipated stigma: Implications for post-release functioning. Self and Identity12, 527–547. 10.1080/15298868.2012.702425
27.
Moore,K., Stuewig,J., & Tangney,J. P. (2016). The effect of stigma on criminal offenders’ functioning: A longitudinal meditational model. Deviant Behavior37(2), 196–218. 10.1080/01639625.2014.1004035
28.
Olney,M. F., & Kennedy,J. (2002). Racial disparities in VR use and job placement rates for adults with disabilities. Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin45(3), 177–185. 10.1177/003435520204500307
Paul-Emile,K. (2014). Beyond Title VII: Rethinking race, ex-offender status, and employment discrimination in the information age. Virginia Law Review100, 893–952.
31.
Quinn,D. M., Chaudoir,S. R., (2009). Living with a concealable stigmatized identity: The impact of anticipated stigma, centrality, salience, and cultural stigma on psychological distress and health. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97, 634–651. 10.1037/a0015815
32.
Schmitt,J., Warner,K., (2010, November). Ex-offenders and the labor market. Center for Economic and Policy Research.
33.
Schroeder,R. D., Giordano,P. G., & Cernkovich,S. A. (2007). Drug use and desistance processes. Criminology,191–222.
34.
Segall,J. (2011). Mass incarceration, ex-felon discrimination & black labor market disadvantage. University of Pennsylvania Journal of Law and Social Change14(1), 159–182. 10.1111/j.1745-9125.2007.00076.x
Simonson,J. (2006). Rethinking rational discrimination against ex-offenders. Georgetown Journal of Poverty Law Policy13(2), 283–311.
37.
Swensen,J. G., Rakis,J., Synder,M. G., & Loss,R. E. (2014). Engaging employers and business in hiring of individuals with criminal records. Journal of Applied Rehabilitation Counseling45(4), 15–24. 10.1891/0047-2220.45.4.15
38.
Terry,L., & Cardwell,V. (2015)., What are the common concepts for recovery and desistance across the fields of mental health, substance misuse, and criminology? www.russellwebster.com/recovery-and-distance/
Visher,C. A., Yahner,J., & LaVigne,N. (2010). Life after prison: Tracking the experiences of prisoners returning to Chicago, Cleveland, and Houston. Urban Institute.
41.
Weaver,B. (2016). Offending and desistance: The importance of social relations. Routledge.
