The author(s) shown below used Federal funds provided by the U.S. Department of Justice and prepared the following final report: Document Title: The Mark of a Criminal Record Author(s): Devah Pager Document No.: 198320 Date Received: December 2002 Award Number: 2002-IJ-CX-0002 This report has not been published by the U.S. Department of Justice. To provide better customer service, NCJRS has made this Federally- funded grant final report available electronically in addition to traditional paper copies. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. THE MARK OF A CRIMINAL RECORD by Devah Pager A dissertation submitted in partial fidfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Sociology) at the UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON 2002 This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. 1 LIST OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS Professor Robert M. Hauser, Sociology Professor Erik Olin Wright, Sociology Professor Lincoln Quillian, Sociology Professor Franklin Wilson, Sociology Professor Jamie Peck, Geography Dr. Marc Bendick, Jr., Economic Consultant This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. 11 ABSTRACT: THE MARK OF A CRIMINAL RECORD by Devah Pager Over the past three decades, the number of prison inmates has increased by more than 500 percent, leaving the United States the country with the highest incarceration rate in the world. With over two million individuals currently incarcerated, and over half a million prisoners released each year, the large and growing numbers of men being processed through the criminal justice system raises important questions about the consequences of this massive institutional intervention. This paper focuses on the consequences of incarceration for the employment outcomes of black and white job seekers. The manuscript is comprised of two studies: the first, a large-scale experimental audit of employers in Milwaukee, used matched pairs of young men to apply for real entry-leveljobs to measure the extent to which employers use information about criminal histories and race to screen out otherwise qualified applicants. Indeed, the results of the audit study provide clear evidence for the dramatic impact of both a criminal record and race on employment opportunities: Ex-offenders are one-half to one-third as likely to receive initial consideration from employers relative to equivalent applicants without criminal records. Perhaps most striking, the results show that even blacks without a criminal record fare no better-and perhaps worse-than do whites with criminal records. This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. ... 111 The second study, a telephone survey of these same employers, gathered self- reported information about the considerations and concerns of employers in hiring entry- level workers, with a specific focus on employers’ reactions to applicants with criminal backgrounds. By linking results from the audit study to those of the employer survey, I find that employers’ self-reports vastly understate the barriers faced by both blacks and ex-offenders seeking entry-level employment. Though employer surveys can tell us a great deal of usefbl information about the relative preferences of employers, extreme caution should be used in generalizing these results to estimates of actual behavior. The findings of this project reveal an important, and much under-recognized, mechanism of stratification. A criminal record presents a major barrier to employment, with important implications for racial disparities. This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS They say it takes a village to raise a child; in my case, it has taken a department and a community to raise me through graduate school. The number of people who have offered support, insight, and compassion through these years has been extraordinary. First and foremost I thank Robert M. Hauser for his years of wisdom, guidance, and encouragement. Bob took me in after having been twice orphaned, transforming a tumultuous graduate school beginning into an enriching and edifying experience. Over the years, Bob has been unwavering in his support, guiding me skillhlly through the worlds of grant-writing, job searching, and dissertation completion. In his dedication to research and his integrity as a scholar, Bob has been-and continues to be-an inspiring role model, setting the standard to which I strive to achieve. Together, Bob and Tess have been like a family to me, and I look forward to many more years as part of the Hauser tribe. I thank Erik Olin Wright for sharing with me his charismatic, endearing, and always brilliant sensibilities. Erik has the uncanny ability to bring a deep understanding to topics well outside the realm of his own work, to pinpoint the critical axis of intellectual debate, and to express the central ideas with more precision and flare than the author herself could have ever done. Erik’s commitment to community, intellectual and otherwise, has been a model for me, and in his appreciation for the quirky and quixotic, I have found a kindred spirit. I thank David Grusky for his mentorship from the very beginning of my career in sociology. David was patient with me as I struggled with the existential dilemmas of a This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. V first-year graduate student, and offered what seemed to be limitless generosity with his time and feedback in the years to follow. Throughout the years, David has been an inspiring mentor, pushing me to think more clearly and to execute my research with greater precision. Following David to Wisconsin after my first year was the best decision I could have made; I thank him for making that opportunity available to me. Lincoln Quillian has been a wonderful colleague. I have had the great fortune of engaging with Lincoln through brownbag discussions, through our own academic collaboration, and through his extensive advice and feedback on my own research. Lincoln has been consistently generous with his time and has improved the quality of my research immensely. Franklin Wilson has been an energetic mentor and a supportive colleague, not the least of which he demonstrated when serving on my dissertation committee. I thank Jamie Peck for expressing such enthusiasm for my project and for encouraging me to think about the specific geographic dimensions of my project and of future research. Initial inspiration for this project came while volunteering at the Transitional Housing Authority of Madison, and I thank Lisa for facilitating my time there, and the many clients (especially Greg) for sharing their experiences with me. The design and implementation of the audit study benefited greatly from the extensive advice and guidance of scholars with an expertise in this methodology. I thank Marc Bendick, Jr. from Bendick & Egan Consultants for generous advice and feedback during the development of this project; Margery Turner, Wendy Zimmerman, and Doug Wissoker from the Urban Institute; Carla Wirthum at the Milwaukee Fair Housing Project; and Linda Garcia at 9to5. This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. vi The audit study would not have been possible without the generous support of those in the Milwaukee community. I thank the Benedict Center for donating office space during the course of my project; in particular, I thank Kit McNally, Sura Faraj, Emily Durway, and Lenard Wells. Members of the Sociology department at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukeealso provided space and logistical support for this project; I thank Stacey Oliker, Don Noel, and Deb Kolberg. Finally, I thank the testers participating in this project, whose hours of driving, applying for jobs, and filling out papenvork represented the backbone of this research. Without their dedication and conscientiousness, this project would not have been possible. I thank Jerry Marwell and Jeremy Freese for sharing some of the most delightful moments of my final year in Madison, helping me to elevate karaoke to the status of department ritual. These events represented far more than the union of exhibitionism and tone deafhess; rather, they epitomized the collective spirit and friendly enthusiasm of the Wisconsin community from which I have gained so much. Mitch Duneier has been the best colleague and friend a person could ask for.