‘Right now, I’m really not looking to work’: Barriers and pathways to pretrial employment

• In Event: 30265 - Labor, Markets and Work in the Criminal-Legal System

Abstract

Much attention has been paid to the negative impact of criminal convictions and incarceration on employment trajectory. Yet, recent quantitative studies show that even minor contact, such as an arrest, can significantly impact labor force participation and earnings. This paper considers what underlying processes may shape the negative association between minor contact and employment. It also explores how this linkage is understood and experienced by people in their daily lives. Drawing on 102 in-depth interviews with people charged with a crime in Houston’s Harris County and Chicago’s Cook County, we identify two mechanisms during pretrial release that make it difficult for individuals to find and maintain employment: pretrial restrictions and stigma of a pending charge. We link each barrier to psychological or compliance costs that individuals incur on top of the hardships associated with unemployment. Opting out of employment also emerges as a response to both barriers. We also identify factors that facilitate employment during this time. Those with jobs had access to flexible work and/or strong support networks. Bridging the concepts of administrative burdens and procedural hassle, we suggest that costs forcefully incurred during this stage, without any benefit, constitute administrative punishment for legally innocent people.

Authors

• Erin Eife, George Mason University

• Faith M Deckard, University of California - Los Angeles