The last nine months have seen a depressing spate of news stories detailing horrific crimes on Canadian streets. Random stabbings on public transit partly defined the recent Toronto mayoralty byelection and spurred the federal government to introduce a bill to reform the bail system in Canada.
In the midst of this, it is more important than ever for governments and political parties of all stripes to offer a solution that goes beyond tougher bail and sentencing, as much as these policies may be called for under the circumstances. A governing agenda must also address what happens to ex-offenders after they leave prison.
A recent Cardus report investigates how and why crime and unemployment are related. There are a lot of different theories for why some people commit crimes and others don’t. Some researchers have even questioned whether there is much hope for offenders once they have settled into a pattern of crime. But our review of the empirical literature shows that, despite an early “consensus of doubt,” more recent findings have clearly shown that having a job can help ex-offenders set their life on a better path.
This shouldn’t be surprising to anyone. Work is about more than just money. It has all sorts of non-financial benefits, including better physical and mental health, greater life satisfaction, less family conflict and divorce, and lower instances of substance abuse. The inherent dignity of work can provide a greater sense of meaning and direction in a person’s life. That’s why Cardus argues for pro-employment policies for those with disabilities, the poor, and the disadvantaged. There is no reason to think it should be any different for ex-offenders.
As obvious as it might seem that there is a relationship between crime and unemployment, there are some important nuances that policymakers need to be aware of. For one thing, employment has a different effect on someone’s likelihood of committing a crime depending on how old they are. For most people, having a job is associated with avoidance of crime. But for adolescents, too many hours working at a job is actually associated with the opposite: teenagers who work more than 20 hours a week are actually more likely to commit crime than their peers who work less than that. Why? Because working that much might be a sign of a rough home life or a strained relationship with parents.
Herein lies a key message for those concerned about public safety: as important as employment is for reducing crime, it is even more important to have a strong and stable family life. Research shows that these family bonds are crucial for everyone in avoiding crime, but it is especially true for teens.
There is another side to the crime-unemployment relationship, too. Not only can unemployment lead people into committing crimes, but also committing crimes (and having a criminal record) can make it really difficult for people to rebuild their lives and find a job later on. This can lead them further into unemployment. It’s a vicious circle that we need to break.
The issue has several facets.
From an economic perspective, ex-offenders represent an untapped labour pool, which is no small thing in an economy short of workers. Studies show that employers tend to underestimate the value that ex-offenders can bring to a company. This is value that could be captured to improve the overall productivity of our labour force.
From a public safety perspective, we want fewer ex-offenders to become repeat offenders simply because we don’t want more crime. It’s neither realistic nor just to lock up all prisoners forever, and most people in prison today will walk free one day. Giving them the possibility of employment could mean that we have fewer victims of crime in the future.
But most fundamentally, from the perspective of human dignity, we owe it to ex-offenders themselves to ensure that they have a chance at having a job and rebuilding their lives. If we truly believe that all human beings have dignity and that that dignity encompasses our capacity for work, then any tough-on-crime, public safety, or social agenda should reflect this.
