Post-Release Recidivism and Employment among Different Types of Released Offenders: A 5-Year follow-up Study in the United States

The main focus of this 5-year (2005-2009) follow-up study of released offenders was to explore the post-release employment and recidivism among different types of released offenders before, during, and after the economic recession of 2008. The dataset of this study contained a cohort of 6,561 offenders who were released from the Indiana Department of Correction (IDOC), United States, throughout 2005. Results of this study revealed 37.0 percent of violent offenders, 38.2 percent of non-violent offenders, 36.3 percent of sex offenders, and 36.9 percent of drug offenders were never employed since release from prison. The recidivism rate was 46.6 percent among violent offenders, 48.6 percent among non-violent offenders, 54.7 percent among sex offenders, and 45.8 percent among drug offenders, respectively. Most importantly, the results of this study revealed that an offender's education and post-release employment were significantly and statistically correlated with recidivism, regardless of the offender's classification. This study also found a relatively high unemployment rate among released offenders within the first year of release from prison. Accordingly, almost half of the recidivist offenders were re-incarcerated within 12 months of the initial release.