Returning citizens in white rural communities face the same high barriers to finding a job as African Americans in urban areas, according to a Texas Southern University study.
Both groups are also similarly at high risk for recidivism as a result, the study adds.
“This is not a Black issue or a White issue nor an urban issue or a rural issue,” wrote researchers in the paper published by the Center for Justice Research at Texas Southern.
“Rather the relationship between imprisonment and unemployment is consistent across most communities.”
The researchers examined the links between unemployment, imprisonment for non-violent crimes and child poverty in rural areas where the population is largely white—a demographic segment they said was often ignored in discussions about barriers faced by returning citizens.
They combined U.S. Census Data with statistics from the Department of Labor, THER U.S. Sentencing Commission and the Vera Institute of Justice to identify congressional districts that fit their study criteria.
Strikingly, their study confirmed earlier research showing strong connections between unemployment, “fatherlessness” (as a result of parents in prison) and child poverty in urban areas held true in rural communities.
“The current results suggest long-term imprisonment – but not short-term jails – are
associated with both unemployment and child poverty,” the researchers said.
“The latter finding is important because it suggests the potential consequences of this relationship may extend beyond merely those for the former offenders. Removal of primary caregivers from the family has straightforward economic impacts on youth left behind. Given a high proportion of former inmates are male, economic deprivation contributes to fatherlessness. “
The research paper argues that policies which are aimed at “breaking the cycle” of joblessness “have a good chance of reducing recidivism, increasing employment, and improving issues related to fatherlessness.”
The researchers noted that the Clean Slate legislation at state levels and passed in Congress last year, which allows for sealing or expungement of certain records of nonviolent offenders, is a “positive avenue” for increasing non-violent offenders’ participation in employment, in their families, and decreasing their involvement with the criminal justice system.
“As such, the long-term benefits from such programs may be intergenerational and cross-cultural in nature.”
The full paper can be downloaded here.