Transitional Aid for Released Prisoners: Evidence from the Life Experiment

Charles D. Mallar and Craig V. D. Thornton

Journal of Human Resources, 1978, vol. 13, issue 2, 208-236

Abstract: Findings are presented from a controlled experiment designed to test the effectiveness of transitional aid programs for ex-prisoners in reducing theft crimes. Upon release from prison, a sample of men with high (ex ante) probabilities of committing theft crimes were enrolled in treatment and control groups. One year after release, a group receiving financial aid had significantly fewer arrests for theft crimes than did the controls. Calculations of the social benefit/cost ratio show that the benefits of transitional income maintenance substantially outweighed the costs. In contrast, the provision of job-placement assistance turned out to have no significant effect on post-release behavior.

Date: 1978
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/145359
A subscription is required to access pdf files. Pay per article is available.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:uwp:jhriss:v:13:y:1978:i:2:p:208-236

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Human Resources from University of Wisconsin Press
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().