Submit a Manuscript to the Journal
Journal of Crime and Justice

For a Special Issue on
The relationship between work and crime

Employment is one of the most frequent policy levers used to reduce the likelihood of offending among high-risk populations such as those with a history of justice-system involvement. For instance, it is common for prison or reentry programming to include some form of employment-assistance. In addition, employment is typically required as a condition of criminal justice supervision (Kimchi, 2019). Consistently, practitioners often feel that it is “considered a no-brainer… that a parolee with a job is far more likely to stay out of jail (Crutchfield, 2014, p. 29). This should be of little surprise, given that the benefits of individual-level employment are squarely grounded within criminological theory (e.g., Sampson & Laub, 1993). Despite the theoretical and practitioner support for employment to reduce offending among justice-involved individuals, several key questions remain. The papers in this special issue will investigate and advance the relationship between work and crime. Specifically, I anticipate receiving papers focused on (though not limited to) two main themes:

A. The effects of employment on crime

Scholars have moved beyond evaluating the singular effect of employment on crime to focusing on treatment and treatment effect heterogeneity (Nguyen & Loughran, 2018). Treatment heterogeneity acknowledges the wide variety of jobs or experiences that can fall under the simple guise (or measurement) of “employment.” This cautions evaluators against assuming all employment is created equal and instead encourages them to consider variation in factors such as length/stability of employment (Apel & Horney, 2017; Blokland & Niuwbeerta, 2005; Uggen, 1999; Van Der Geest et al., 2011; Verbruggen et al., 2012), hours of employment (Apel & Horney, 2017; Paternoster et al., 2016), job quality/sector (Apel & Horney, 2017; Jaynes, 2020), and one’s level of commitment to the job (Apel & Horney, 2017; Jaynes, 2022) in evaluating the effect of employment. Treatment effect heterogeneity then acknowledges that the same “treatment” (employment) can have varying effects among different individuals. For instance, prior research has found differences in employment effects by race (Piquero et al., 2002; Jaynes, 2020), gender (Simons et al., 2022; Staff et al., 2010), age (Uggen, 2000), and economic state (Yang, 2017). Considering how employment (or employment programming) may impact diverse sub-groups is a key policy-concern as practitioners strive to adopt policies that will be effective among their target populations. This special issue welcomes papers that evaluate the diverse effects of employment on crime.

B. The effects of crime on employment

Despite the potential for protective effects of employment on crime, justice-involved individuals are drastically more likely to be unemployed or underemployed (Prison Policy Initiative, 2018). In recent years, a growing body of literature has emerged highlighting the detrimental effects of a criminal record (or incarceration) on labor-market outcomes (Augustyn, & Loughran, 2017; Bushway, 1998; Grogger, 1992). In fact, it is widely recognized that hiring managers are far less likely to call back or hire an individual with a criminal record (Holzer, 1996); a disparity which is exasperated among racial minorities (Pager, 2003). This special issue welcomes the submission of papers that considers the mechanisms through which justice-involvement impacts labor market outcomes.

For inquires about the submission guidelines please contact Chae Jaynes ([email protected]).

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