--- Dennis Claxton <ddclaxton at earthlink.net> wrote:
> >In directly considering the connection between
> >crime and work, researchers often assess
> >both activities by measuring participation
> >(rather than extent of involvement). In these
> analyses,
> >most of those who committed crime also worked
> >(Freeman 1999a, Grogger 1998). This
> >continues to be true: in the 1997 National
> >Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 85–90 percent of
> young
> >men and young women who received some earnings from
> crime were also employed,
> >approximately the same percentage as among those
> >who received no income from crime
> >(author’s calculations). This contributes to the
> >evidence that crime and work are not exclusive, as
> >was also found in Reuter, MacCoun and Murphy’s
> >(1990) in-depth study of drug dealers.
>
>
> U R B A N I N S T I T U T E R E E N T R Y R O U N
> D T A B L E
> Employment Dimensions of Reentry:
> Understanding the Nexus between Prisoner Reentry and
> Work
> May 19–20, 2003
> New York University Law School
>
> Crime, Work, and Reentry
> Anne Piehl
> Harvard University
>
> http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/410856_Piehl.pdf
[WS:] Thanks for the ref. It was useful. What she argues is that work is useful in reentry not as an alternative to crime source of income but as a venue of socialization i.e. development of social networks that integrate the inmate to the community.
This is essentially consistent with what I was saying all along in this debate - that crime is not a business opportunity (except maybe for the rich :), but a way of life to which one is socialized through social networks. Breaking it requires a different type of socialization.
I am a big fan of the social control and social interactionism theories of criminal behavior. Both argue that such behavior is really a social contstruct rather than an utlitarina choice made by individuals. Unfortunately, the criminal justice system is build on the latter, errouneously assuming that punishment deters crime. It does not. It pushes the offended deeper into criminal social networks.
Wojtek
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