Career Thoughts of Incarcerated Students

Abstract

In 2018, the Bureau of Justice Statistics released the results of a nine-year longitudinal study following 412,731 inmates released in 2005, finding that 84% of these individuals were rearrested (Alper et al., 2018). This high recidivism rate shows a clear need for reentry intervention to reduce these rates. A key part of reentry should be career readiness; for this to be successful, individuals need to attain skills and education congruent to the skills needed in the labor force. Providing career assistance and interventions to those entering the workforce is understanding an individual's desire and motivation in career and education, and negative career thoughts predict job attainment and satisfaction. The purpose of this study was to examine the career thoughts of incarcerated students and determine if intersections of their identities affect their career thoughts through the use of the Career Thoughts Inventory and demographic information. The intersections examined include; re-offense, disability status, education level, and employment experience. This study investigates the career thoughts of incarcerated students at a technical college serving only incarcerated adults. This study indicates that these intersections do not have a significant difference with incarcerated students' career thoughts.