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Sadé Lindsay Dissertation.pdf (964.07 KB)

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The Prison Credential Dilemma: How Race, Criminal Records, and Contradictory Signals Shape Post-Prison Employment and Job Search Strategies

Lindsay, Sadé L
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1624369512751739

Abstract Details

2021, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Sociology.
This dissertation examines how race, human capital, and criminal records coalesce to shape men’s employment and job search strategies. Prison credentials are proposed as a solution to improve human capital and alleviate negative effects of criminal records in the labor market. Yet, their efficacy is mixed, with scholars attributing contradictory evidence to a lack of program integrity or methodological limitations. In Chapter 2, I develop a novel, alternative explanation, termed the prison credential dilemma, to highlight the relational aspects of hiring and raise the possibility of prison credentials signaling both human capital and criminal stigma. I use an audit study of 1,502 employers in five states to assess the effects of prison credentials on employer callbacks and whether effects differ by race. Applicants with prison credentials have higher probabilities of receiving callbacks than formerly incarcerated men without credentials. However, applicants without incarceration histories fare better than applicants with prison credentials. While the efficacy of prison credentials does not differ by race, Black applicants have lower probabilities of receiving callbacks than White applicants, and these combined main effects create racialized employment outcomes. Chapter 3 details the second theoretical contribution: conceptualizing job mismatching as a differential return to human capital. I demonstrate why job mismatching is a driver of inequality by using the employer audit to examine how applicants’ race and criminal histories affect their abilities to receive callbacks for jobs that match their qualifications. Applicants with prison credentials are more often relegated to poorly paid positions, despite possessing credentials that signal their ability to perform specialist job duties. Among applicants without criminal records, White men without credentials more often receive callbacks for specialist positions for which they are underqualified while these opportunities are not afforded to their Black counterparts. In Chapter 4, I examine how the prison credential dilemma shapes job search strategies and pathways to employment using qualitative interviews with 50 formerly incarcerated men. Many formerly incarcerated men are cognizant of the prison credential dilemma but are reliant on prison credentials and develop tactics to manage stigma attached to these credentials. On job applications, men use dissemblance to conceal or obscure the institutional affiliation of their credentials. During job interviews, they use their prison credentials to counter negative stereotypes about employees with criminal records. Men who do not use these tactics or are unable to obtain employment double down on their educational pursuits by acquiring post-release credentials or accept temporary jobs in hope of eventually obtaining full-time positions. This dissertation theoretically and empirically improves our understanding of both the promise and limits of credentials in addressing structural employment barriers and has important implications for prison program structure and policies aimed at reducing labor market inequality.
Mike Vuolo (Committee Chair)
Ryan King (Committee Member)
Dana Haynie (Committee Member)
202 p.
Sociology
Criminal records; race; human capital; credentials; employment; incarceration; prison programs; stigma; discrimination

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Lindsay, S. L. (2021). The Prison Credential Dilemma: How Race, Criminal Records, and Contradictory Signals Shape Post-Prison Employment and Job Search Strategies [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1624369512751739

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Lindsay, Sadé. The Prison Credential Dilemma: How Race, Criminal Records, and Contradictory Signals Shape Post-Prison Employment and Job Search Strategies. 2021. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1624369512751739.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Lindsay, Sadé. "The Prison Credential Dilemma: How Race, Criminal Records, and Contradictory Signals Shape Post-Prison Employment and Job Search Strategies." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2021. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1624369512751739

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1624369512751739
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© 2021, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License The Prison Credential Dilemma: How Race, Criminal Records, and Contradictory Signals Shape Post-Prison Employment and Job Search Strategies by Sadé L Lindsay is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.