Impact of Educational Initiatives and Pathway Programs on Employment

It is well documented that justice-involved individuals experience a plethora of systemic barriers that exist at the societal, organizational, and individual level; namely, at the individual level, employers’ attitudes and perceptions often impede the hiring of individuals with a criminal record, as well as individuals’ inconsistent work history and lack of skills. Among the strategies that can assist justice-involved individuals in lowering their perceived stigma during the employment process is attaining some level of education or skills training. Given that justice-involved individuals are nearly twice as likely to have no high school education as compared to the general population, individuals who demonstrate agency and engage in some level of education and skill attainment, may be perceived as more marketable and employable. This paper explores the role of education and skill training pathways to aid in individuals’ access to employment opportunities. Specifically, I aim to make the following contributions: (1) provide an overview of the research with regard to varied education and training pathways that justice-involved individuals may engage in, (2) identify the level of skills and educational attainment that are associated with varied training pathways; (3) raise critical questions that have not been given sufficient attention in the research literature about the effects of training pathways and employment opportunities for justice-involved individuals. Lastly, while acknowledging the contributing factors that render individuals more employable, and highlighting the agency and resiliency demonstrated by justice-involved individuals, this paper notes the significance (and need) of organizations to create sustainable inclusive employment policies and practices, such that they are ready to hire from this population.