Studies have shown that a lack of job opportunity is linked to criminal history which
Studies have shown that a lack of job opportunity is linked to criminal history which
Most people who have been incarcerated find it difficult to get a good job and this may frustrate their desire to move out of the poverty line.…
For the past forty years, two-thirds of released convicts are rearrested for a serious crime they have not committed before and more than half of released prisoners are re-incarcerated over a three year period which has led to former convicts making up 20% of all adult arrests (Petersilia). The high incarceration rate ruins American…
In addition, Newman argues, “the more they are attached to their jobs, the more they pull away from the negative elements in their environment and distinguish themselves in every respect from the friends and acquaintances who have taken a wrong turn in life” (109). From Latoya’s family tree, we see all six males (out of 9 children) are absent from the family, who seemingly made bad choices and has been incarcerated (190). At a time when nearly 8 percent of the male working-age population is incarcerated, little attention is paid what happens when they are released. Then, we cannot help but wonder, “What will a second chance be like in landing an entry-level job for those specific group of working poor?” Devah Pager (2003) helps to answer this question by looking at the effects of negative credentials caused by imprisonment.…
We as a country, should have a structured re-entry process that empowers felons to slowly re-enter society working their way through simple job assignments where their ability to regain trust and credibility is documented through each step of the way. To this end, the government must utilize and apply their strengths and abilities in job assignments that would elevate in responsibility and complexity until these felons are ready to integrate into society. The best way to do this would be to provide incentives for private industry so that they would accept these candidates. Once this structured approach would be applied, it would be necessary to monitor success rates so that required changes could be implemented. To this end, we as a society might be able to say that we had not written off a whole group of society based on many simple short sighted, youthful errors in…
The video we saw during class was interesting and it caught my attention since I can relate to what was being said. There was talk about Hispanic Americans and how each generation lived differently. But the main thing I took from the video was the idea of America being an international country; a nation of immigrants. However we must be careful to not assimilate into the masses to the point where we completely forget our heritage. It is our very heritage and culture which contribute to the country which makes our nation an international nation.…
I will explore the view points of the employer, the convicted felon, and the public.…
The issue here is that employers will often discriminate, against former criminals during the hiring process. It is almost impossible to even get an interview if someone has to indicate that they have a criminal record on a job application. To make matters worse, a released criminal will be hit with a bevy of fines and payments that need to be made to the state ranging from public defender fees to expenses incurred in prison. As if living on minimum wage, without government help, and with little to no job security wasn’t hard enough, these fines make it nearly impossible for people to support…
The Prison Service encompasses three central aims; holding prisoners securely, decrease risk of offending and lastly offer safe, well-ordered institutions in which prisoners are treated humanely, decently and lawfully (Cavadino and Dignan, 2007, p.193). When the state incarcerates, it must accept accountability for the basic care of those it detains. Although prisoners should not expect luxuries during their time of incarceration, they should not be deprived of the basic goods and comforts of life. Certification of access to enough goods should be available to help them develop as the citizens expected to be. Lord Justice Woolf (1991) claimed three necessities for the prison system to maintain steadiness: security, control and justice. In terms…
Reintegration after Prisonization for African American Juvenile felons what happens to them and can them survive in the outside world? What is reintegration? This paper will examine the reintegration of African American juvenile felons. Being a felon makes it hard to find a job; in some cases it interferes with trying to get an apartment or even a grant to continue education. Felons have the hardest time in obtaining employment, it depends on the age of which the offender is put away the felony could go away after they reach age eighteen, and they could become productive members of society.” Some employers do not hold a person 's past crime against him, and…
When offenders seek employment and housing, they are often denied a position or home when employers and landlords retrieve their criminal history. Such practices create a significant struggle for ex-offenders to become productive citizens while avoiding recidivism. As we know, recidivism is harmful to both the offender, the community, and in some ways the economy/tax payer revenue. Approximately “sixty-billion dollars” is disbursed annually to house offenders’ country-wide and when ex-convicts reoffend and are sent back to prison, costs increase resulting in spiked taxes for citizens and overcrowding for…
The purpose of this paper is to show why ex-offenders falls into recidivism due to hardship of not finding employment and to prove that there are programs out there to help with these tough situations. We all know or have someone who has experienced the difficulties of trying to get a job after being released from the prison system. The judgments that come along with your name after you have been labeled in the system. The taunting and humiliation you go through while you are trying to maintain in the society is dreadful because no matter where you go your record is going to follow you.…
There are over six million ex-convicts in the United States. Research proposes that the best way for ex-cons to avoid prison again is to reintroduce them into the working world and find them jobs. However, most employers are hesitant to give them a chance. With the unemployment rate approaching its highest it makes keeping a job is challenging. When a person has been to prison, their chances of getting hired decrease drastically. Chapter five of David K. Shipler's The Working Poor: Invisible in America, Shipler emphasizes attaining a job, maintaining a job, and living while employed to construct his arguments on the barriers and biases that the working poor have to overcome.…
In, “Beyond the Prison Bubble,” published in the Wilson Quarterly in the winter 2011, Joan Petersilia shows different choices about the imprisonment systems. The United States has the highest incarceration rate of any free nation (para.1). The crime rate over a thirty year span had grown by five times since 1960 to 1990. There are more people of color or Hispanics in federal and state institutions then there are of any other nationality. The prison system is growing more than ever; the growth in twenty years has been about 21 new prisons. Mass imprisonment has reduced crime but, has not helped the inmate to gradually return back to society with skills or education. But the offenders leaving prison now are more likely to have fairly long criminal records, lengthy histories of alcohol and drug abuse, significant periods of unemployment and homelessness, and physical or mental disability (par.12).…
The explain the new lifestyle of the released felons as “the diminished state.” In this condition, Crutchfield and Weeks argue that, “…most returning former prisoners… less likely than others of their age, race, and gender to be involved in a stable relationship or to have been employed in a high-quality job prior to their incarceration. When men and women return from prison, their family life has an even higher likelihood of having been disrupted, and their competitiveness on the job market is even more diminished than it was before they were incarcerated.” (Crutchfield and Weeks 49). This “diminished state” longer be able to attain a job easily, but if they do it is most likely that it is a low paying job that doesn’t truly provide enough financial stability. This forces the felons to remain in these poor communities typically made up of minorities, and there is really no way to escape this community once convicted. This allows Whites to remain in power and control without…
The primary authors of this study are Jeffrey I. Ross and Stephen C. Richards. They are the authors of the book “Beyond Bars: Rejoining Society after prison” in the year 2009. Their claims are not based on any research-based methodologies but rather with first hand experiences and personal observations. After being released from prison, most of the re-entries suffer from employment and housing discrimination from society, that corrections officials ignore the formidable challenges that ex-inmates, both men and women are facing in finding employment and housing (JI Ross & SC…