Doctoral Dissertation Research: Employment of Native Americans with Criminal Records

Harvard University, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

Understanding the effects of concentrated disadvantage is of both theoretical and socially practical importance. Unemployed Native Americans with criminal records living on reservations constitutes a particularly acute situation of concentrated disadvantage. This project will investigate the effects of this condition on employment. Specifically, it will depict the job search process for tribal fathers with criminal records as they look for work post-incarceration. It will describe how these men provide for themselves and their families in the absence of formal employment and how living on vs. off-reservation can shape these processes. Findings from this study will be of use to policy makers, criminal justice officials, employers, and tribal governments who endeavor to support these men as they seek formal employment and attempt to reintegrate back into society. They will also be of use for the design of policy to ameliorate the effects of concentrated disadvantage in general. For this study, 30 tribal respondents from the Yurok and Hoopa Valley reservations, 15 living on reservation and 15 off reservation, will be interviewed. The research will address the question of how tribal fathers with criminal records manage the process of finding work. Those men who look for work post-incarceration face the double disadvantage of discrimination in the hiring process and a slack local labor market. They may also have access to resources unique to reservation residence that further weaken labor force attachment. In collaboration with the Yurok Tribal Court, this project will provide an account of the job search strategies of tribal fathers with criminal records, how they provide for themselves and their families in the absence of formal employment, and how living on vs. living off-reservation can shape these processes. The research questions pursued and the findings uncovered in this novel investigation will provide direction for the study of unemployment on reservations across the country. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.