Crime and rehabilitation: Correctional education as an agent of change—A research note

Offenders' access to instructional grants for postsecondary education has come under attack in Congress and in state legislatures throughout the country. Policy makers demand empirical evidence that public support for correctional education will reduce recidivism. Using 10-year follow-up data and logistic regression techniques, we estimate the likelihood of recidivism among parolees from a close-security prison in Ohio who have varying levels of education. We conclude that participation in a postsecondary education program contributes to postrelease employment, which in turn explains a significant amount of variation in recidivism.