Attitudes of employers with respect to hiring released prisoners

Abstract

The objectives of the study were (a) to determine whether employers are inclined to hire released prisoners; (b) to gain insight into the reasons employers are or are not inclined to hire released prisoners; (c) to determine whether employers are or are not inclined to hire released prisoners who were imprisoned for specific types of crimes; and (d) to determine in what types of firms and for what types of jobs employers are or are not inclined to hire released prisoners. The survey research method was used for this study. The instrument used to collect the data was an item response form. The sample consisted of private sector employers in East Texas. The 229 employers who returned usable survey forms constituted the study sample on which the data were analyzed and reported. Findings: 1. The majority of the respondents were not willing to hire released prisoners. 2. Of the selected reasons respondents were willing to hire released prisoners, "crime does not relate to job" ranked the highest, while "legal obligation" ranked the lowest. 3. Of the selected reasons respondents were not willing to hire released prisoners, "lack of honesty and trustworthiness" ranked the highest, while "employment would adversely affect community" ranked the lowest. 4. Of the selected crimes relating to respondents' willingness to hire released prisoners, drug abuse/DWI ranked the highest, while crimes against children ranked the lowest. 5. Respondents were more willing to hire released prisoners for semi-skilled and skilled jobs, as well as for short-term or temporary jobs, than for any of the other given jobs. Conversely, respondents were less willing to hire released prisoners for professional jobs or for upwardly-mobile jobs than for any of the other given jobs. 6. The respondent characteristics of (a) type of firm, (b) age of firm, (c) size of firm, and (d) hiring policy of firm were not significantly related to the willingness of respondents to hire released prisoners. 7. The respondent characteristic of union status of firm was significantly related statistically to the willingness of respondents to hire released prisoners. 8. Respondents frequently followed a contingency, or situational, approach with respect to hiring released prisoners.