There is ample evidence that prison-based educational programs reduce the rate of recidivism among formerly incarcerated individuals and increase their employment prospects. However, little empirical research has focused on examining the mechanism that links correctional education with these two outcomes. Moreover, the versatile programs investigated to date make it difficult to distinguish between effective and less effective programs. Using propensity score matching, we compared post-release employment and recidivism among Israeli formerly incarcerated individuals who participated in four different education programs. Findings demonstrated two patterns: participants in the 12th grade and 8th grade programs showed better outcomes in both recidivism and employment than non-participants, whereas participants in the 10th grade and 6th grade programs only showed better employment outcomes. The mediating effect of employment on recidivism in the 12th grade and 8th grade programs demonstrated the dramatic role of employment in the desistance process. Our study suggests that education programs with more direct content or skills linked to employment would increase the overall impact of education on successful reentry.

有充分的证据表明，基于监狱的教育计划降低了以前被监禁人员的再犯率，并增加了他们的就业前景。但是，很少有实证研究集中于研究将教养教育与这两个结果联系起来的机制。此外，迄今为止研究的通用程序使得很难区分有效程序和效果较差的程序。使用倾向得分匹配，我们比较了参加四个不同教育计划的以色列前被监禁人员的释放后就业和累犯情况。调查结果显示出两种模式：12年级和8年级课程的参与者在累犯和就业方面都比非参与者的结果要好，而10年级和6年级课程的参与者仅显示出更好的就业成果。十二年级和八年级课程中就业对累犯的中介作用证明了就业在停业过程中发挥着重要作用。我们的研究表明，与就业相关的内容或技能更直接的教育计划将增加教育对成功入学的总体影响。