As states across the country work to boost their minimum wages, the policies could have an unintended side effect: Helping turn people away from a…
As states across the country work to boost their minimum wages, the policies could have an unintended side effect: Helping turn people away from a life of crime.
A new working paper from researchers at Rutgers University in New Jersey and Clemson University in South Carolina examined how higher minimum wages and the availability of state-based Earned Income Tax Credits influence recently released prisoners. Their findings point to how instrumental economic policies can be in reducing the rates of recidivism — that is, the likelihood of reoffending.
The average minimum wage increase of 50 cents reduced the probability that men and women would return to prison within a year by 2.8 percent, the paper found. The researchers further argued that drawing former criminals toward legal employment helped offset potential reductions in hiring caused by a higher minimum wage.
Here were some of the reports other findings:
Because the researchers only analyzed data from 2000 to 2014, they did not capture the effect of the $15-an-hour minimum wages that have gone into effect in recent years. Those much-higher minimum wages have prompted concerns that they’ll lead to companies automating more jobs.
