The Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR; Andrews, Bonta, & Hodge, 1990) model highlights education/employment as one of the eight criminogenic needs that must be addressed to reduce criminality. Various offender-focused employment programs have attempted to reduce recidivism rates and promote employment; however, the literature is mixed on the benefits of such programs. The current thesis analyzed education/employment needs and services among offenders in New Brunswick, Canada. In a community-supervised sample (N = 111) of offenders, Study 1 found that participants had education/employment needs in New Brunswick that are not being well met by traditional probation services. In a sample of 56 community-supervised offenders, Study 2 found that a pilot offender-focused employment program, Optimizing Employment Readiness (OER), assisted in the reduction of recidivism risk and promotion of employment, but results must be interpreted with caution due to methodological limitations. Collectively, the current thesis presents the contemporary employment situation of offenders in New Brunswick, Canada. It highlights areas that ought to be addressed by the criminal justice system in order to effectively reduce recidivism, increase offenders’ opportunities for employment, and improve offenders’ overall well being.
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