Schenectady: A Short Story

Ex-offenders have a hard time finding long-standing, good paying employment because of the barriers they face. One of those barriers is a lack of skills needed to gain employment (Holzer, Raphael, and Stoll 4-5). Many offenders are both undereducated and unemployed when they enter prison, and while in prison, often fail to gain adequate education or skills because there are no resources offered to acquire these skills (Smith). Also, employers fear hiring ex-offenders because of their criminal past. John Rakis, who wrote, “Improving the Employment Rates of Ex-Prisoners Under Parole,” says many employers have a “prejudice,” against hiring an ex-offender (Rakis 8). Along with employers being wary of a criminal past, ex-offenders also have large gaps in their employment history, as a result of the time served in prison. These gaps cause ex-offenders to appear as undependable employees, and employers become hesitant of hiring the ex-offenders (Bracey 253). Richard Coley and Paul Barton, who jointly wrote, “Locked up and Locked out: An Educational Perspective on the U.S. Prison Population,” say, “Employers value experience and continuity of work history” (Coley and Barton 30). When an offender has spent a significant amount of

But before all of that he was working on equipment in their family store. He would work on all kinds of things with his dad, Daryl. This was during high school and before he went to college, he said, "I really enjoyed this job because it taught me a lot a lot about mechanics and I've used what I learned a lot in my life now." So after that job he went to two years of college like I explained earlier, then he went to the Police Academy where he started his training to become a Police Officer, which was his career for most of his life. He went to the Everson Police Department for two years after his training at the Police Academy. He did like being a Police Officer for Everson but after those two years he got a job with the Whatcom Inner Narcotics Team with the DEA. During this time he tried to help prevent kids and teens from using drugs and other substances. He says he enjoyed that job because he got to help kids and could often time make a positive impact on their lives. He spent 1 year working their before he went to the Lynden Police Department. When asked where he enjoyed working the most he said, "My favorite job was with Lynden Police Department because, all of the other police officers were great guys and we all became really good friends during our time their." He worked at Lynden for 17 and a half years and he said he wouldn’t trade that experience for anything. When asked

Many people living in poor neighborhoods might have been to prison, have had little to no education, or even health problems. There are over six million ex-convicts in the United States. Research proposes that the best way for them to stay out of prison again is to reintroduce them into the working world and finding them jobs, but most employers are hesitant in giving them a chance. With an unemployment rate approaching its highest, getting employed is challenging. If someone has been in prison, the chance of them getting a job decreases drastically. In chapter five of David K. Shipler’s The Working Poor: Invisible in America, Shipler emphasizes on attaining a job, maintaining a job, and living while employed to successfully construct his arguments

There are more reasons why its hard for recently released prisoners to find a job including the stigma that goes along with being a convicted offender. “There are several reasons why incarceration reduces the employability and subsequent earning potential of released inmates. First, the stigma attached to incarceration makes it difficult for ex-prisoners to be hired. Employers are reluctant to hire individuals with a criminal record, because it signals that they may not be trustworthy. A survey of employers in five major cities across the country revealed that two-thirds of all employers

After careful consideration and much thought, we have decided it is in our best interests to hire John Snow, although he is an ex-convict; he has already served his time. His credentials are notable, having recommendations from his previous employments as well as his university, while also having a Bachelor’s Degree in Hospitality. We have the right to believe that he is honest, and is willing to turn over to a new leaf, as he stated in his resume’ that he was convicted of involuntary manslaughter, the lowest count of murder by state law and has served the maximum jail time for such a crime (http://criminal.findlaw.com/). For further clarification and reference, we have complied 2 other similar cases of hiring an ex-convict for

The criminal background of the offender possibilities of obtaining employment because many employers are not willing to hired ex-convicts. According to the authors “A survey of 3,000 employers in four major metropolitan areas revealed that two-thirds would not knowingly hire an ex-prisoner” (Abadinsky, 2015, p.182). The effects of the criminal record are crucial to the offender’s involvement in crime. The lack of employment is directed to poor financial stability and reinvolvement in crime. Statistics demonstrate the employers negative view on the criminal record “The results showed that there was a reduction of 50 per cent in the

Throughout the 1990s, “misdemeanor arrests increased 70 percent in New York City” due to the availability of more officers leading to the arrest of felons on lower level crimes (Francis). The “broken window theory” did not show signs of correlation with the reduction of crime in New York City.

Finding a stable source of employment is especially important to those with criminal backgrounds. Not having a stable job is a critical factor in re-entering into the criminal justice system. Finding and keeping a job is the key to your success and your future. Here are some tips to get past

It is an uphill battle obtaining a job with a criminal record.  A study of prisoners  by the Urban Institute indicated that eight months after imprisonment, only 65% of those released had found employment at any point, and only 45% were currently employed at the time of the study. These numbers indicate that many of those who leave the prison system are unable to break the cycle of illegal behavior, likely out of necessity. In one scene, Cutty, a reformed drug dealer recently released from prison, pleads to keep his job to his boss, whom recently learned of his criminal past. Despite his punctuality and great work ethic, Cutty loses his job. With hesitation, he rejoins his old gang and returns to his criminal lifestyle.

Once an ex-offender finds a field in which they can work, they can be subject to further scrutiny through the use of criminal background checks by hiring managers. Nally, et al. (2014) noted a number of studies showing that

A criminal record is not considered to be an obstacle in all cases but on average it reduces employment opportunities considerably (Pettit & Western, 2001). Employers are hesitant to offer employment to persons with a criminal conviction

The article doesn’t talk about crime rate of students but, the dropout rate of students in high school. Research showed that employment reduced the high school dropout rate in Jersey City. This showed that the issue is also prevalent in other big cities like Jersey City and would be beneficial if the program was adapted to every big city. Steven Fulop even says, “The Jersey City Summer Works Initiative is one that can be replicated in cities throughout the nation. It’s an important step to creating a more optimistic and successful city where no one is left behind”. This strengthens Emily Badger argument regarding the benefits of summer job programs. In the two different cities, the program has shown significant impact on youth and both authors of the article would agree this program would greatly benefit other

With employment being important in the breaking of deviant behaviors I think it should be more of a focus especially in Withers case because he went back to his old ways just four days after his release. I couldn’t find any employment history for Withers but there is a high chance that he was not given a job or any help finding a job after he left prison. Also the man’s stay in prison could have interrupted the period of time where he would have found a job and instead replaced it with an experience that reinforced his criminal traits. It is possible that Withers stay in prison not only reinforced his criminal traits but also lowers jobs skills and has been shown to lower standardized testing performance by twenty to fifty percent. (Western,

Typically, all businesses in the U.S. have a background check policy for their new hires, and having a criminal record makes it difficult. Individuals with criminal record have trouble getting a good job; despite the fact, they have qualification for industries that have labor shortages. Therefore, National Employment Law Project (NELP), “has been a leader in the movement to restore fairness to the process of criminal background checks and remove unnecessary or badly-designed barriers to the employment of people with criminal records” (Emsellem). Through government help such as this, individual can find place to work faster. Furthermore, “job training and mentoring programs have shown promise in helping former inmates learn new, or adapt existing, skill sets for a new career” (“Successful Reintegration,” 2014) By creating an opportunity such as this, it can give stability and willingness for an individual to make best out of the second chance. Work is vital entity for parolees to start earning money for their livelihood, but the most essential part is to get acclimated in the

Ex-offenders face numerous challenges once released from a period of incarceration. In addition to financial, social, family, and community reintegration, they face enormous barriers to employment. Ex-felons are prohibited from certain occupations including contact with children, medical and health services, security, and government jobs, by laws and legal restrictions including limitations for professional licensing. Potential employers legally discriminate against hiring ex-felons, regardless of the nature of their convictions. The first reason why more ex-felon lenient laws should be passed towards job employment is because it will significantly lower unemployment rates. Especially regarding men, these rates would decrease immensely. According to a recent New York Times/CBS News/Kaiser Family Foundation poll, Men with criminal records account for about 34 percent of all nonworking men ages 25 to 54. This poll represents one in every three males in that particular age group. It can be seen that these men contribute to a large portion of unemployment rates in America.