K Experience , Criminal History

This paper explores whether the poor post-prisonemploylrient experiences of ex-offenders arise from general disadvantage as' lowskilled workers with little previous work experience, or from specific disadvantage from being ex-offenders. While it is difficult to mesh out the separate effects, a strong finding is that monthly post-prison employment experiences are most directly affected by outcomes in months immediately preceding those months in question. Work Experience, Criminal His-tory-, and I?os-t--Prison I?erformance Researchers have repeatedly found that the-labor market performance of ex-offenders is dismal (Cook, 1975; Pownail, 1971; Taggart, 1972; Witte, 1976). The products of our nation's prisons experience high levels of unemployment, face high turnover due to dismissals, quits and layoffs, and receive low wages. Some researchers have argued that these conditions exist because ex-offenders possess in predominance lowskilled, disadvantaged worker characteristics. But is the dismal performance by ex-offenders in the labor market primarily due to their criminal record specifically or their disadvantaged status generally? Phillip Cook (1975) has argued that the poor labor market performance of ex-offenders is due to their heavy endowment with characteristics associated with disadvantaged workers. They are young and nonwhite and hold unstable, low-paying jobs even before entering crime. While this situation may have pushed them into crime, having once been a criminal intensifies the disadvantaged worker effect rather than supplants it. If Cook is correct, then among ex-offenders with varying previous employment experiences, the least disadvantaged should perform better. Disadvantage can be measured by not having held a job for any appreciable period, having worked the longest stretch in a poorly paid, low status, high turnover type job, or achieving only low educational status. And one would expect that, after prison, these measures would be highly correlated with failure in the labor market. If Cook is not correct, on the other hand, varying post-prison unemployment experiences among ex-offenders should not be explained by ., '~f ---------~~~~~ ------------------------~~-