University of South Carolina Scholar Commons Theses and Dissertations Fall 2019 Evaluating the Effectiveness of Ohio's Certificate of Relief Peter Leasure Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd Part of the Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons, and the Public Policy Commons Recommended Citation Leasure, P.(2019). Evaluating the Effectiveness of Ohio's Certificate of Relief. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/5616 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you by Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. EVALUATING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF OHIO’S CERTIFICATE OF RELIEF by Peter Leasure Bachelor of Arts Ohio Dominican University, 2010 Juris Doctor New England Law Boston, 2014 Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Criminology and Criminal Justice College of Arts and Sciences University of South Carolina 2019 Accepted by: Robert J. Kaminski, Major Professor John D. Burrow, Committee Member Brandon Applegate, Committee Member Shane Thye, Committee Member Cheryl L. Addy, Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School © Copyright by Peter Leasure, 2019 All Rights Reserved. ii ABSTRACT Employment has been cited as a factor that can aid one’s desistance from criminal activity. However, research has consistently demonstrated that those with criminal history face significant barriers to securing employment. In recognition of this problem, most states have implemented various rights restoration mechanisms aimed to increase employment opportunities for ex-offenders. One of these mechanisms, the certificate of relief, aims to aid ex-offenders in their job search by ensuring employers that certificate holders are not a safety risk, providing employers with negligent hiring immunity, and removing occupational licensing bans. A handful of studies have examined whether this mechanism improved hiring outcomes for ex-offenders, but these studies produced mixed results and suffered from important methodological limitations. The goal of the current study was to address the limitations of previous research to provide a more comprehensive test of one state’s (Ohio) certificate. This goal was achieved with the use of two field experiments. Both experiments utilized a correspondence approach where hypothetical applicants submitted resumes to entry-level job postings. The first portion of the study utilized a mixed experimental design that included a within-subject criminal record variable and a between-subject race variable. The second portion of the study utilized a between-subjects experimental design that included a between-subjects criminal record variable and a between-subjects race variable. Results showed that certificate holders received significantly fewer callbacks for interviews than those with no criminal record. Results also showed that certificate holders fared no better in terms of iii callbacks than those with a criminal record and no certificate. Further, African American applicants received significantly fewer callbacks than White Applicants in all criminal record categories. These results were supported in several robustness checks. Policy implications of these findings are discussed in detail along with study limitations, directions for future research, and technical notes on correspondence studies. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iii List of Tables .................................................................................................................... vii List of Figures .................................................................................................................. xiii List of Symbols ................................................................................................................ xiv List of Abbreviations .........................................................................................................xv Chapter 1: Introduction …………………….......................................................................1 Chapter 2: Review of the Literature ....................................................................................7 2.1 The Importance of Researching Employment Outcomes for those with Criminal Records …................................................................................................7 2.2 The Number of Individuals Possessing Criminal Records ……......….............8 2.3 Barriers to Employment ....................................................................................9 2.4 Mechanisms that Reduce the Negative Impact of a Criminal Record on Employment ..........................................................................................................21 2.5 Theoretical Framework ...................................................................................35 2.6 The Present Study ...........................................................................................47 Chapter 3: Methodology ……...........................................................................................51 3.1 Research Design ..............................................................................................51 3.2 Study Context .................................................................................................55 3.3 Employer Sample ............................................................................................57 3.4 Base Resume Construction .............................................................................59 3.5 Key Independent Variables .............................................................................62 v 3.6 Dependent Variable ........................................................................................66 3.7 Robustness Checks .........................................................................................67 3.8 Analytic Strategy ............................................................................................74 Chapter 4: Results .............................................................................................................76 4.1 Mixed Design Results .....................................................................................76 4.2 Between-Subjects Design Results ….............................................................101 Chapter 5: Discussion .....................................................................................................126 5.1 Discussion of Results and Previous CQE Research ….................................126 5.2 Policy and Theoretical Implications ….........................................................131 5.3 Limitations and Directions for Future Research …………...........................136 5.4 Technical Notes on Correspondence Studies ………....................................140 Chapter 6: Conclusion .....................................................................................................144 References .......................................................................................................................147 Appendix A: Logistic Regression Diagnostics ...............................................................176 Appendix B: Logistic Regression Models Presenting Odds Ratios ……………………182 Appendix C: Probabilities and Average Marginal Effects for Control Variables ..........199 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1 Distribution of treatment variables....................................................................76 Table 4.2 Distribution of control variables which could vary across criminal record types...................................................................................................................................77 Table 4.3 Distribution of control variables across race.....................................................78 Table 4.4 Probability of a callback for pooled criminal record and racial conditions.......80 Table 4.5 Average marginal effects for pooled criminal record and racial conditions......80 Table 4.6 Probability of a callback for criminal record type conditioned by race.............81 Table 4.7 Average marginal effects of criminal record type conditioned by race.............81 Table 4.8 Probability of a callback for criminal record type conditioned by race with controls...............................................................................................................................83 Table 4.9 Average marginal effects of criminal record type conditioned by race with controls...............................................................................................................................83 Table 4.10 Probability of a callback for criminal record type conditioned by individual name...................................................................................................................................85 Table 4.11 Average marginal effects of criminal record type conditioned by individual name...................................................................................................................................86 Table 4.12 Average marginal effects of criminal record type conditioned by individual name continued..................................................................................................................87