Declining Employment Stability, Population Heterogeneity, and Recidivism
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Date
2021-04
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Abstract
Prior literature consistently documents an inverse relationship between employment and recidivism; a relationship that is typically interpreted as evidence for Sampson and Laub's (1990) turning-point hypothesis, which argues that stable, quality employment pulls individuals away from crime by exerting informal social control. Following this logic, declining employment stability over time should increase risk of re-offending. To date, no study has empirically tested this proposition. Nor has any study assessed whether the relationship between declining stability and recidivism differs across levels of prior offending. To address this gap, this research applies group-based trajectory modeling and event-history analysis to determine whether declining employment stability increases recidivism risk for a sample of 2,050 Ohio ex-prisoners and how prior offending patterns influence this relationship. Results demonstrate that declining stability increases recidivism risk, that most recidivism events for those with declining stability occur after stability has begun to decline, and that the effect of declining stability on recidivism is stronger for those with more extensive histories of prior offending.
Description
Social and Behavioral Sciences: 2nd Place (The Ohio State University Edward F. Hayes Graduate Research Forum)
Keywords
Recidivism, Reentry, Life-Course, Employment