Offenders and Entrepreneurship

This paper reports on a study into the potential which offenders have for entrepreneurial activity, and discusses some policy implications for the training of prisoners and ex-offenders in small business skills. The study had a number of elements; firstly a survey of current small business training and support within prisons and the probation services in the UK; secondly, a survey of prisoners and probationers to establish their potential for entrepreneurial activity, experience of working in their own businesses and intentions of doing so in the future. The questionnaire included a psychometric test which assessed individuals across five well- established entrepreneurial traits; and finally case studies of three ex-prisoners who were intending to start up their own businesses once they left prison.