Related Research

Having Trouble Finding Good Workers? They’re Right Under Your Nose

Myths about people who have criminal convictions can prevent hiring managers from considering this pool of productive, trustworthy workers. RAND research is clear: The vast majority of people who have a criminal conviction do not reoffend.

Safe to Hire: Predicting Recidivism Risk for Job Candidates with Criminal Records

We consider whether statistical models can produce a more accurate, interpretable, and fair assessment of the recidivism risk of job candidates with criminal records relative to current approaches.

Elizabeth Chase, Shawn D. Bushway, Bethany Saunders-Medina, Lane F. Burgette

Modest Financial Incentives for Businesses Can Increase Employment of People with Criminal Records

This brief summarizes research into financial incentives that increase employers’ willingness to hire applicants with criminal records. The researchers find that tax credits and insurance increase employers’ willingness to hire such individuals.

Shawn D. Bushway, Justin T. Pickett

Direct Incentives May Increase Employment of People With Criminal Records

Explores whether direct incentives for employers may increase employment of people with criminal records.

Shawn D. Bushway, Justin T. Pickett

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Workers with a Criminal History

In this article, we use data from the NLSY97 COVID-19 Supplement to examine the extent to which workers with a criminal history record had employment disruptions during the early months of the pandemic.

Daniel Schwam, Shawn D. Bushway, Jeffrey B. Wenger

Resetting Recidivism Risk Prediction

A RAND research report proposes the novel reset principle to guide more-accurate recidivism risk prediction for criminal background checks. The research also demonstrates the viability of a risk-prediction model that satisfies the reset principle.

Shawn D. Bushway, Brian G. Vegetabile, Nidhi Kalra, Lee Remi, Greg Baumann

Providing Another Chance: Resetting Recidivism Risk in Criminal Background Checks

The authors propose the reset principle that anchors assessments of recidivism risk at the time of a background check rather than the time of conviction, as current methods derived from the criminal justice context do.

Shawn D. Bushway, Brian G. Vegetabile, Nidhi Kalra, Lee Remi, Greg Baumann

How Different Sampling Methods Paint Vastly Different Pictures of Recidivism, and Why It Matters for Policy

In this paper, the authors argue that the recidivism statistics cited most often in debates about the collateral consequences of conviction overrepresent the behaviors of frequent recidivists and so are not appropriate evidence in those debates.

Nidhi Kalra, Brian G. Vegetabile, Shawn D. Bushway, Greg Baumann

The Prevalence of Criminal Records Among Small Business Owners

This research brief addresses a new estimate of how many U.S. small businesses have owners with criminal history records.

Shawn D. Bushway, Dulani Woods, Denis Agniel, David Abramson

Confinement as a Two-Stage Turning Point: Do Changes in Identity or Social Structure Predict Subsequent Changes in Criminal Activity?

We build from prior work on desistance and reentry, contrasting our findings and highlighting the unique insight gained from, as well as challenges of, measuring individual change within our two-stage turning point model.

Audrey Hickert, Shawn D. Bushway, Paul Nieuwbeerta, Anja JE Dirkzwager

Reentry, Desistance, and Identity Achievement

This report is based on two foundational beliefs: Reentry policy needs to be based on a theoretical desistance model, and the empirical evidence supports a desistance model that involves movement toward a positive pro-social identity.

Shawn D. Bushway

A Policy Review of Employers' Open Access to Conviction Records

In this review, we find that (a) US employers' use of conviction information is not clearly aligned with the risk of future criminal behavior or employer costs, and (b) using such information leads to hiring errors that pose costs to society.

Shawn D. Bushway, Nidhi Kalra

Breaking Down Barriers: Experiments into Policies That Might Incentivize Employers to Hire Ex-Offenders

To inform policies and programs aimed at improving employment rates for ex-offenders, we conducted experiments to examine employer preferences regarding policy options targeted to incentivize hiring individuals with one nonviolent felony conviction.

Priscillia Hunt, Rosanna Smart, Lisa Jonsson, Flavia Tsang

Bridge to Opportunities: How One Probation Agency Developed a Program Designed to Connect Probationers to High-Wage Jobs

This report summarizes findings from a case study of a program intended to improve the earning potential of probationers in Sacramento County, California, by training them in construction trades and connecting them to high-wage employers.

Dionne Barnes-Proby, Priscillia Hunt, Lisa Jonsson, Samantha Cherney

How Effective is Correctional Education? The Results of a Meta-Analysis

To examine the effectiveness of correctional education and its association with reductions in recidivism and improvement in employment after release from prison, the authors present the results a comprehensive literature review and meta-analysis.

Lois M. Davis, Robert Bozick, Jennifer L. Steele, Jessica Saunders, Jeremy N. V. Miles