Academic education/vocational training and recidivism of adult prisoners.

Skills Training

May 2021

Full Citation

Maciekowich, Z. D. (1977). Academic education/vocational training and recidivism of adult prisoners. Dissertation Abstracts International Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences, 37(8-A), 5080. Retrieved from http://ovidsp.ovid.com/ovidweb.cgi?T=JS&PAGE=reference&D=psyc2&NEWS=N&A…

Abstract

Research literature was reviewed concerning the question of whether or not academic education/vocational training had any impact upon recidivism of adult prisoners in Arizona and also to determine if any one specific educational/vocational program had more influence upon recidivism in comparison to the other program. A questionnaire to measure recidivism and to determine the difference between the programs was constructed with ten variables consisting of various subgroups within each. The factors related to recidivism utilized in the survey were: (1) sex; (2) race; (3) age; (4) involvement with illegal drugs; (5) committing offense; (6) commitment and discharge residence; (7) living arrangement at time of discharge; (8) employment status; (9) employment level; and (10) type of training. The selected sample of the population employed in the study consisted of 188 inmates who had enrolled in and completed three different educational/vocational training programs while incarcerated in 1973 and 1974 and were released in 1973, 1974 and 1974 and 320 inmates who were paroled in Arizona from State Prison in 1974. The data for the completion of the survey instrument was obtained from the inmate records maintained by the Arizona Department of Corrections in Phoenix, Arizona and the Central Arizona College, in Coolidge, Arizona. The chi-square test for independent samples was utilized to analyze the data compiled for each of the four groups in reference to the ten variables and their various categories. The findings were as follows: 1. No significant difference was noted regarding any effect of the educational/vocational training program upon recidivism. 2. Overall, there were no meaningful results regarding any specific programs having more influence upon the sub-groups of the variables. The lone exception in this category was the unemployed classification of the employment status variable. 3. Significant levels of difference were obtained regarding the influence of the educational vocational training programs upon various subgroups of the variables used to measure recidivism. The categories for which meaningful results were obtained follows: (a) Minorities; (b) over 30 age classification; (c) narcotics as a committing offense; (d) living arrangements with relatives; (e) having a discharge residence in Maricopa County; (f) having a discharge residence same as the commitment residence; (g) being employed; and (h) having white collar or skilled status of employment. 4. No significant results were secured regarding any one of the specific educational/vocational training programs having more influence upon recidivism than others. It appeared that the vocational training program had more effect upon recidivism than any of the others. Although the results were contrary to those found in the majority of the literature which was reviewed, they do coincide with the beliefs that are prevalent among society in general.