Search Results

Unfortunately, while the number of females in the system rise, policy measures regarding reentry have largely stayed the same. As women exit the system and attempt to re-build, they will have to deal with the consequences of having a criminal record and face barriers to obtaining housing, public benefits and employment. This paper assesses the extent to which young women are penalized in the labor market specifically, both as a stand-alone impact and in comparison to their male peers, a topic which has received a great deal of attention for males but not nearly enough for females. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, a nationwide survey following two cohorts of youth from their teen years into adulthood, I construct logistic regression models to determine whether there is a negative relationship between prior involvement in the justice system and employment status, while controlling for age and race. I observe this relationship within each gender, as well as when males and females are jointly observed. My findings indicate that there is indeed a statistically significant negative relationship between the two, but that the impact for males and females is roughly the same. In other words, females with prior criminal history suffer in the labor market to the same extent as their male peers, but do not suffer additionally as a result of being female.