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Washington University in St. Louis

Theses/Dissertations

2015

Recidivism

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Labor Force Participation And Crime Among Serious And Violent Former Prisoners, Nora Ellen Wikoff May 2015

Labor Force Participation And Crime Among Serious And Violent Former Prisoners, Nora Ellen Wikoff

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project examines the relationship between work and crime among male former prisoners. Criminological theories and observational studies suggest that work reduces crime, but recent studies cast doubt on the ability of employment programs to reduce recidivism among former prisoners. Ongoing weak evaluations may imperil support for employment-focused rehabilitative programming. Using data from the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (n = 1,575), this study examines whether selection bias and unobserved heterogeneity contribute to weak evaluation findings.

First, this study tests whether unobserved heterogeneity contributes to jobs programs' weak treatment effects. It uses group-based trajectory modeling and propensity score methods …