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Prison Work and Convict Rehabilitation

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  • Zanella, Giulio

    (University of Bologna)

Abstract

I study the causal pathways that link prison work programs to convict rehabilitation, leveraging administrative data from Italy and combining quasi-experimental and structural econometric methods to achieve both a credible identification and the isolation of mechanisms. Due to competing channels, I find that work in unskilled prison jobs impacts convicts on longer or shorter terms differently. Increasing work time by 16 hours per month reduces by between 3 and 10 percentage points the reincarceration rate, within three years of release, of convicts on terms longer than six months – because prison work counteracts the rapid depreciation of earning ability experienced by these convicts. For those on shorter terms, the analogous increase leads instead to a re-incarceration rate that is up to 9 percentage points higher, because of a liquidity effect that weakens deterrence.

Suggested Citation

  • Zanella, Giulio, 2020. "Prison Work and Convict Rehabilitation," IZA Discussion Papers 13446, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13446
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    Cited by:

    1. William Arbour, 2021. "Can Recidivism be Prevented from Behind Bars? Evidence from a Behavioral Program," Working Papers tecipa-683, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    2. William Arbour, 2021. "Can recidivism be prevented from behind bars? Evidence from a behavioral program," Working Papers 2021.07, International Network for Economic Research - INFER.
    3. Benjamin Monnery & Saïd Souam & Anna Montagutelli, 2021. "Economie du travail en prison : enjeux, résultats et recommandations," EconomiX Working Papers 2021-26, University of Paris Nanterre, EconomiX.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    prison labor; prisoner rehabilitation; crime; recidivism; re-incarceration;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • J47 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Coercive Labor Markets

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