Population: Populations with Barriers to Employment

People Who Have Been Incarcerated

People who have been incarcerated often face difficulties finding work and establishing independent lives after their release. MDRC tests the effectiveness of programs to help people who were previously incarcerated navigate the many barriers to employment that relate directly to their experiences with carceral systems and law enforcement, among other systemic and personal barriers and injustices, and reduce their chances of rearrest.

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Brief

Effectiveness of Pretrial Special Conditions

Many jurisdictions use electronic monitoring (the use of electronic devices to monitor people’s locations) and sobriety monitoring (drug and alcohol testing) as alternatives to pretrial detention. Drawing on nonexperimental analyses, this brief reports that neither form of monitoring improves court appearance rates or the avoidance of new arrests.

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Brief

Effectiveness of Varying Intensities of Pretrial Supervision

In place of bail, many jurisdictions are instead releasing people awaiting trial with varying levels of supervision in an effort to ensure that they appear in court and avoid new arrests. This brief compares the relative effectiveness of different intensities of pretrial supervision.

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Key Documents

Report

Employment-Focused Programs for Ex-Prisoners

What Have We Learned, What Are We Learning, and Where Should We Go from Here?

Each year, the more than 600,000 people released from prison face numerous obstacles to successful reentry into society, starting with the challenge of finding stable work. What does existing research say about the effectiveness of work-focused programs for ex-prisoners?

Recidivism Effects of the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) Program Vary by Former Prisoners’ Risk of Reoffending

CEO, a transitional jobs program for former prisoners in New York City, had its strongest effects for participants who were at highest risk of recidivism, for whom CEO reduced the probability of rearrest, the number of rearrests, and the probability of reconviction two years after entering the program.

Building Knowledge About Successful Prisoner Reentry Strategies

The 700,000 incarcerated prisoners released each year face considerable obstacles to successfully reintegrating into their communities, and many return to prison. While state and federal agencies have mounted ambitious prisoner reentry initiatives, this policy memo from our “Looking Forward” series explains that there is still much to learn about what works.

New Jersey Criminal Justice Reform Advancing Racial Equity (NJ CARE) Study Focus Area: Pretrial Justice Population: Populations with Barriers to Employment Locations: New Jersey	Returning Citizens Stimulus Study Focus Area: Corrections and Reentry Financial Incentives Population: Populations with Barriers to Employment Populations with Low Incomes	Los Angeles County Reentry Integrated Services Project Focus Area: Corrections and Reentry Population: Populations with Barriers to Employment Intervention: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Case Management, Behavioral Interventions, Employment Services Locations: California
Pretrial Justice Collaborative Focus Area: Pretrial Justice Corrections and Reentry Youth and Juvenile Justice Population: Populations with Barriers to Employment Young Adults	Applied Behavioral Coalition (ABC) Focus Area: Child Care and Early Education High School Two-Generation Programs Corrections and Reentry Health Population: Populations with Barriers to Employment Children and Schools Intervention: Transitional Jobs/Subsidized Employment, Case Management, Career & Technical Education, Behavioral Interventions, Employment Services	MDRC Center for Criminal Justice Research Focus Area: Pretrial Justice Corrections and Reentry Youth and Juvenile Justice Population: Populations with Barriers to Employment Young Adults
Learn and Earn to Achieve Potential (LEAP) Focus Area: Foster Care and Juvenile Justice Youth Employment Population: Young Adults Populations with Barriers to Employment Populations with Low Incomes Intervention: GED Completion, Job Training, Dual-Enrollment/Bridge Programs Locations: Alaska, Arizona, California, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York	Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency-Next Generation Focus Area: Child Care and Early Education Two-Generation Programs Welfare Reform Population: Populations with Barriers to Employment Families Populations with Low Incomes Children and Schools Intervention: Behavioral Interventions	MDRC Center for Applied Behavioral Science (CABS) Focus Area: Child Support Child Care and Early Education Two-Generation Programs Welfare Reform Work Support and Asset Building Population: Populations with Barriers to Employment Families Populations with Low Incomes Children and Schools
The Subsidized and Transitional Employment Demonstration (STED) Project Focus Area: Corrections and Reentry Population: Populations with Barriers to Employment Intervention: Transitional Jobs/Subsidized Employment	Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency Project Focus Area: Child Support Child Care and Early Education Two-Generation Programs Welfare Reform Population: Populations with Barriers to Employment Families Populations with Low Incomes Children and Schools Intervention: Behavioral Interventions

Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Employment (CBE-Emp) Focus Area: Corrections and Reentry Population: Populations with Barriers to Employment Intervention: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Employment Services Locations: New York	Changing Attitudes and Motivation in Parolees (CHAMPS) Evaluation Focus Area: Corrections and Reentry Population: Populations with Barriers to Employment Intervention: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Locations: Colorado, Iowa, Texas	Transitional Jobs Reentry Demonstration Focus Area: Corrections and Reentry Population: Populations with Barriers to Employment Intervention: Transitional Jobs/Subsidized Employment Locations: Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin
Reintegration of Ex-Offenders Random Assignment Evaluation Focus Area: Corrections and Reentry Population: Populations with Barriers to Employment Intervention: Employment Services	The Enhanced Transitional Jobs Demonstration Focus Area: Corrections and Reentry Population: Populations with Barriers to Employment Intervention: Transitional Jobs/Subsidized Employment Locations: California, Georgia, Indiana, New York, Texas, Wisconsin	Enhanced Services for the Hard-to-Employ Focus Area: Child Care and Early Education Two-Generation Programs Corrections and Reentry Health Population: Populations with Barriers to Employment Intervention: Telephonic Services, Transitional Jobs/Subsidized Employment, Case Management, Employment Services Locations: Kansas, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island

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People Who Have Been Incarcerated

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