effect of earning a GED on recidivism rates, The

Journal of Correctional Education, Sep 2003 by Nuttall, John, Hollmen, Linda, Staley, E Michele

Review of the Literature

Several recent studies have shown that inmates who participate in an education program (e.g. literacy, ABE, GED, college) while incarcerated are less likely to return to prison after their release than offenders who do not participate in an education program (Boe, 1998; Burke & Vivian, 2001; Harer, 1995; Haulard, 2001; Porporino & Robinson, 1992; Ryan, 1991).

"According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, there is an inverse relationship between recidivism rates and education. The more education received, the less likely an individual is to be re-arrested or re-imprisoned" (Open Society Institute, 1997, p.4). Porporino and Robinson (1992) found that offenders in the Canadian federal correctional system who completed the ABE program were less likely to return to prison after release than both those who participated in but did not complete the program and those who dropped out of the program.

Burke and Vivian (2001) found that inmates at a county correctional facility in Massachusetts who participated in a college program while incarcerated were less likely to return to the facility within five years than a comparable group of offenders that did not participate in the program. However, this study had a very limited definition of recidivism. An offender had to be re-sentenced to the same county correctional facility in order to be counted as a recidivist. Offenders sentenced to state prison or to another county jail within five years of their release from the study facility were not counted as recidivists. Although the New York State Department of Correctional Services (NYSDOCS) has a similar limitation, in that recidivism is defined as a return to state prison only, it is not as limiting as Burke & Vivian's (2001) definition, since there are 70 facilities under the Department's jurisdiction.

In his study of recidivism among Federal prisoners, Harer (1995) concluded that: the more years of education inmates had completed at their admission to prison, the less likely they were to recidivate, and recidivism rates were inversely related to educational program participation while incarcerated. Haulard (2001) identified and reviewed several inmate education programs that were successful in reducing recidivism.

A 1986 study by the NYSDOCS found that the return rate of a sample of offenders who earned a GED while incarcerated was substantially lower (17.1%) than the Department's overall return-to-custody rate (26.3%) (Macdonald & Bala, 1986).

In July 1989, the Department produced a report that improved upon the 1986 study by expanding the scope and the sample size of the study and included results from a more comparable control group (NYSDOCS, 1989). The 1986 study included only 14 facilities, while the 1989 study included all facilities. The 1986 study tracked a sample of 205 offenders while the 1989 study tracked 4,226 offenders. Finally, the 1986 study compared the return-to-custody rate of the sample of offenders who earned a GED while incarcerated to the overall Department return-to-custody rate. In contrast, the 1989 study compared the return rate of offenders who earned a GED while incarcerated to the return rate of offenders who were admitted to DOCS without a high school degree and who did not earn a GED while in DOCS. Offenders who earned a GED while incarcerated returned at a much lower rate (34.0%) than those offenders who did not (39.1%) (NYSDOCS, 1989). This difference was found to be statistically significant.