Research on the relationship between incarceration and employment has grown in both volume and sophistication in the last 10 years. While studies differ with respect to point estimates and outcomes... Show moreResearch on the relationship between incarceration and employment has grown in both volume and sophistication in the last 10 years. While studies differ with respect to point estimates and outcomes, there is remarkable consistency in the finding that incarceration is highly disruptive for certain aspects of the employment experience—even relative to other highly disadvantaged individuals, formerly incarcerated individuals experience a great deal of instability in the labor market. Furthermore, the “scarring effects” of incarceration have a tendency to be longstanding. Studies performed outside the United States also indicate that, even in countries with far more liberal and humane justice systems, incarceration is highly disruptive for employment prospects. In this chapter, several diverse lines of evidence are reviewed, among them, individual-level research on incarcerated individuals, as well as research on employer behavior and attitudes. The chapter closes with some modest suggestions for further advancement of research on the incarceration-employment relationship. Show less
Wermink, H.T.; Wingerden, S. van; Wilsem, J. van; Nieuwbeerta, P. 2017
Ethnic and racial disparities in sentencing receive considerable scholarly inquiry. Much of this research, though, is limited to black/white or black/white/Hispanic comparisons in the United States... Show moreEthnic and racial disparities in sentencing receive considerable scholarly inquiry. Much of this research, though, is limited to black/white or black/white/Hispanic comparisons in the United States. This study examines ethnic disparities in more detail by comparing imprisonment decisions for several understudied (specific) ethnic minority groups, such as Surinamese and Moroccan suspects. Moreover, this study addresses the fundamental issue about how distinct immigrant generations are sanctioned and whether this is a marker of stratification. This broadens our insight in the role of ethnicity as a sentencing factor, since the distinct ethnic groups and immigrant generations differ in their level of economic and social integration in the Dutch society. Three different datasets are analyzed to assess ethnic disparities in sentencing in the Netherlands, allowing us to take other sentencing factors, such as criminal history, offense characteristics, and personal circumstances, into account. These three data sources include data on different suspect populations because they are collected at different stages of the criminal proceedings. Results suggest that there are first-generation and second-generation ethnic disparities in imprisonment decisions in all datasets, even after controlling in detail for other sentencing factors. Show less
