Career development and ex-offenders of white collar crimes

A significant gap exists in the academic literature concerning the issue of the career development of ex-offenders of white-collar crimes facing the job market when first set free. This study explored employer attitudes, policies, and procedures regarding white-collar ex-offender employment in order to assess the way employing organizations think and behave in regard to hiring ex-offenders of white-collar crimes. This study also investigated the criminal justice system's patterns of enforcement and sentencing in order to understand white-collar criminal careers and the societal and criminal justice system's treatment of ex-offenders of white-collar crimes.; The general research questions of this study were as follows: (1) What HR/company policies impact ex-offender employment, what forms do these policies take, and exactly how do these policies impact white-collar ex-offender employment (positively and negatively)? (2) What impact does existing and potential federal and state legislation have on organizational practices where the career development of ex-offenders of white-collar crimes is concerned? (3) What impact do licensing, bonding, and professional certification restrictions have on the career development of ex-offenders of white-collar crimes? (4) Are there clearly identifiable hiring and/or discrimination patterns active in the labor market when white-collar ex-offenders are job applicants? (5) Is the traditional and popularly-held image of white-collar criminals as wealthy and powerful people at the highest levels of socioeconomic status in society an accurate characterization of these offenders? (6) What are the implications of organizations formal and informal policies and practices toward the career development of ex-offenders of white-collar crimes for Human Resource Development research, theory and practice?; The majority of employing organizations that participated in the study (86.75%) did not have formal written policies regarding white-collar ex-offender employment to specifically guide their hiring decisions one way or another when ex-offenders of white-collar crimes are job applicants. This was coupled with the finding that there was great diffusion of hiring authority within the organizations that participated in the survey. The majority (73%) of employer survey respondents indicated that a legal pardon of the ex-offender made the employment of that individual much more likely. Nature of offense, too, was shown to be a significant consideration in the employment of ex-offenders, as was the time served in prison and the time since release from incarceration.; This study focused on the career development of ex-offenders of white-collar crimes through an organizational lens and confirmed active discrimination on the part of employing organizations against hiring ex-offenders. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...