CONTACT: Pat Vaughan Tremmel at (847) 491-4892 or p-tremmel@northwestern.edu

March 29, 2004

Consequences of Incarceration and Racial Disparities

EVANSTON, Ill. --- A Northwestern University study that looks at the consequences of incarceration on employment weighs in heavily on the scarce research on the subject with a conclusion that highlights the futility of finding an entry level job when race enters the equation.

The study’s young black and white testers, who actually were college graduates, filled out job applications for entry level jobs with nearly identically assigned employment, education and criminal histories; they also exhibited similar interpersonal styles to employers.

“Despite the ‘job seekers’ similar histories and characteristics, blacks were less than half as likely as their white counterparts to receive consideration by employers,” said Devah Pager, the study’s investigator and assistant professor of sociology at Northwestern University. “Most striking, blacks with clean records fare no better than whites with prior felony convictions.”

Whites with criminal records received callbacks 17 percent of the time, compared to blacks with no criminal history, who received callbacks 14 percent of the time.

“Many employers assume that young black men from the inner-city have criminal tendencies whether or not they have a criminal record,” said Pager. “Blacks are thus confronted with the stigma of an ex-con even if they themselves are not involved in crime.”

Partly these stereotypes are the result of massive racial disparities in the criminal justice system.

“The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, with the rate for young black men in the year 2000 reaching nearly 10 percent — compared to just over 1 percent for white men in the same group,” said Pager.

Pager’s research shows that blacks with criminal records are the most disadvantaged group in the applicant pool. The ratio of callbacks for non-offenders relative to ex-offenders for whites is 2:1; the same ratio for blacks is nearly 3:1.

“This research not only makes it painfully clear that a criminal record severely limits employment opportunities,” she said, “but suggests that previous estimates of the aggregate consequences of incarceration may underestimate the impact on racial disparities.”

By adopting an experimental design which carefully matches applicants on job-relevant characteristics, Pager got around arguments that poor outcomes of black ex-offenders could merely be the result of preexisting traits that make them bad employees in the first place. The results clearly show that employers use both race and criminal records to screen out otherwise equally qualified applicants.

“It is noteworthy that in Wisconsin, where the study was conducted, it is illegal to discriminate against job applicants on the basis of a prior conviction unless the crime directly relates to the specific job responsibilities required,” Pager said

The study was published in the American Journal of Sociology. Go to: http://www.northwestern.edu/ipr/publications/papers/2003/pagerajs.pdf

Two black and two white testers, paired by race, were employed for the study. They were 23-year-old college students from Milwaukee who were matched on the basis of physical appearance and general style of presentation. Objective characteristics — such as educational attainment and work experience — were made identical for the purpose of the applications.

Job openings for entry-level positions (defined as jobs requiring no previous experience and no education greater than high school) were identified from the Sunday classified section of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel or from Jobnet, a Milwaukee sponsored Web site for employment listings.

“The policy implications of this research are troubling,” said Pager. “Research consistently shows that finding quality steady employment is one of the strongest predictors of desistance from crime. This study strongly suggests that a criminal record’s effect on employment — particularly for black men — leaves individuals with few viable alternatives.”