Decker to present at National Institute of Justice

Scott Decker, foundation professor and director of the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice will present at the National Institute of Justice Real World seminar on February 26 in Washington, D.C.

Decker and colleagues recently completed an in-depth study of the roles of race, gender and education in one of the greatest social challenges facing our nation today: employment for criminal offenders returning to the community. Scientific studies have long documented the negative impact of a prison record on a person’s ability to find employment. But what happens when gender and race/ethnicity are factored in? And what is the impact when the current reality of online job-applying is also factored in?

In the three-year study, six pairs of job applicants: Black men, Black women, Hispanic men, Hispanic women, White men and White women applied for jobs both in person and online. One resume in each pair showed a prison record, but other qualifications were identical. The researchers studied results for more than 500 in-person applications with 60 different Arizona employers. They also followed online applications for more than 6,100 jobs. In the audit portion of the survey, they interviewed 48 employers.

Decker will present recommendations that could influence policies and strategies to help criminal offenders obtain employment. A recording of the seminar will be available a few weeks after the event at Research for the Real World: NIJ Seminar Series.

Decker is a Fellow of the American Society of Criminology and the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, and has served as an associate editor and member of the editorial board for Criminology.