Rehabilitating futures: Assessing the effects of correctional employment-focused programs on recidivism and employment

M. Antonella Mancino

European Economic Review, 2025, vol. 173, issue C

Abstract: In this paper, I explore the effects of participating in employment-focused programs during incarceration, encompassing job skills and vocational training, on post-release employment and crime outcomes. I develop and estimate a dynamic model of crime, employment, and correctional program participation, using data from serious juvenile offenders in Maricopa County and Philadelphia County. I find that participating in employment-focused programs results in a 4.9%-point increase in employment and a 7.9%-point reduction in crime within three years post-release. These programs facilitate the transition to the legal labor sector and enhance employment stability, mitigating some of the adverse effects of criminal records. They also have a modest impact on preferences towards crime. Furthermore, I show that correctional employment-focused programs significantly affect post-release crime and employment outcomes even if criminal experience has accumulated, and that policies that enhance the impact of such programs on the job-arrival rate can have crucial effects on subsequent crime and employment outcomes.

Keywords: Incarceration; Employment-Focused Programs; Recidivism; Employment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J47 J64 K42 P36 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:eecrev:v:173:y:2025:i:c:s0014292125000054

DOI: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2025.104954

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