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Working Through Work Release: An Analysis of Factors Associated with the Successful Completion of Work Release

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Abstract

In line with reentry and life course research that has shown increases in desistance for individuals connected with employment, work release programming attempts to achieve desistance from crime by linking criminal offenders to the labor market while in the correctional system. Recent research has speculated that the completion of rigorous employment programming may serve as a signal to employers that criminal careers have ceased and the offenders are employable. Therefore, it is important to understand factors associated with successful program completion. This study utilizes a sample of jail-based work release participants to explore factors correlated with program completion. Consistent with prior research, we find that offenders who are older, Caucasian, and employed at time of arrest are more likely to complete the program and that minority participants and those with prior mental health treatment are less likely to complete the program.

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Notes

  1. These studies have received a rating of 4 out of a possible 5 on the Maryland Scientific Methods scale (see Cheliotis, 2008).

  2. These five studies received scores of 2.5 on the 5-point Maryland scale (Cheliotis, 2008).

  3. While Jeffrey and Wolpert (1974) speculated the work release group did better than their jailed counterparts because the program helped smooth the transition from incarceration to post-release, their study could not confirm this assertion.

  4. Missing data was generally not prevalent (less than five percent in most instances), although some items, particularly the items related to substance use and taking part in some form of treatment, displayed between eight to fifteen percent missing. Overall, 90 % of respondents were missing data from at most two items. Using R, ten multiply-imputed data sets were created based on the raw, untransformed data. Comparisons did not show any significant differences between observed data and imputed. Results were combined in accordance with Rubin’s rules using Stata 13’s mi suite of commands.

  5. No prior arrests means that it was the participant’s first arrest that led to their participation in work release.

  6. The analysis was also conducted using the untransformed, top-coded variable. The results were substantively the same.

  7. Although the presented analyses included these 11 participants, the same analyses excluding these participants were conducted but did not change any of the substantive results.

  8. Specifically, the regression framework is used to compare group mean differences in the explanatory variables using the series of dummy variables described above. For thoroughness, no differences in any of the observed variables were found when comparisons were made on the sample restricted to only those expected to succeed and only expected to fail.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Criminology, Sociology, and Geography, Arkansas State University, PO Box 2410, State University, Jonesboro, AR, 72467, USA

    Joseph Rukus

  2. Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice, Missouri State University, 901 S. National, Strong Hall Rm. 229, Springfield, MO, 65897, USA

    John M. Eassey

  3. Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice, Missouri State University, 901 S. National, Strong Hall Rm. 226, Springfield, MO, 65897, USA

    Julie Marie Baldwin

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  1. Joseph Rukus
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Correspondence to Joseph Rukus.

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All procedures in this study that involved human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institution and/or national research committee, as well as the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. See University of Florida IRB 2011-U-668.

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Rukus, J., Eassey, J.M. & Baldwin, J.M. Working Through Work Release: An Analysis of Factors Associated with the Successful Completion of Work Release. Am J Crim Just 41, 539–564 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-015-9309-3

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