Citizenship on probation: Understanding the labour market exclusion of criminalized people in Scotland
| Author | Beth Weaver,Cara Jardine |
| Published date | 01 September 2022 |
| Date | 01 September 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/02645505221105400 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Citizenship
on probation:
Understanding the
labour market
exclusion of
criminalized people
in Scotland
Beth Weaver and Cara Jardine
University of Strathclyde, UK
Abstract
The significance of employment to desistance and social integration is well estab-
lished, yet 62% of those subject to a Community Payback Order in Scotland are
unemployed (Scottish Government, 2022). This paper reports on the findings from
a small-scale survey conducted with 29 people subject to community supervision in
Scotland, to shed light on the various enablers and barriers they encounter in seeking,
starting and sustaining employment, and their experiences of engaging in or with
employment support initiatives.
Keywords
employment, community supervision, stigma, criminal record, citizenship, discrimin-
ation, collateral consequences, ban the box, social enterprise
Introduction
As O’Reilly (2014: 468) observes, in many societies, ‘employment is often consid-
ered to be a prerequisite to full membership and inclusion’, and is a central strut in
Corresponding Author:
Beth Weaver, School of Social Work and Social Policy, University of Strathclyde, Lord Hope Building, 141
St James Road, Glasgow G40LT, UK.
Email: beth.weaver@strath.ac.uk
Article The Journal of Communit
y
and Criminal Justice
Probation Journal
2022, Vol. 69(3) 296–317
© The Author(s) 2022
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/02645505221105400
journals.sagepub.com/home/prb
both social and penal policy reflecting the socio-cultural and economic value placed
on work, as an indicator of both social integration and citizenship (e.g. Ager and
Strang, 2004). Yet compared to a national unemployment rate of 4.6% (Scottish
Government, 2021), 62% of those subject to a Community Payback Order
(CPO), Scotland’s principal community sentence, are unemployed (Scottish
Government, 2022). Moreover, as Miller and Borchardt (2016) observe, on
release, only 3% of people released from Scottish prisons progress to employment.
Although there is an articulated Scottish policy commitment to supporting people
with convictions into employment, there is sparse evidence of the differences that
contemporary employment support projects are making, and existing evaluations
indicate that they continue to have limited success with people with convictions
(Community Justice Scotland, 2020; Scottish Government, 2020).
Despite the significance of employment to desistance and social integration, a
wealth of research evidences the deleterious effects of contact with the justice
system on employment outcomes. However, this literature is largely US based,
and often focused on formerly/incarcerated people. There is a comparative
absence of research from a UK perspective, and less focussing on Scotland.
Accordingly, this article offers an original, albeit modest, contribution to this litera-
ture. Building on themes emerging from a comprehensive literature review, it sum-
marises the findings from a small-scale survey conducted with 29 people subject
to community supervision in the west of Scotland, to generate insights into their
experiences of seeking, starting, and sustaining work and of their perceptions of
engaging employment support initiatives, and of employers’attitudes towards
them. In so doing, this paper sheds light on two key tensions. Firstly, there is a dis-
juncture between participants’attitudes and aspirations, and their perceptions of
the kinds of work available to criminalised people. Secondly, a further disjuncture
resides in the kinds of soft-skill based employability support that some received
and the socio-structural and systemic challenges they encountered. This article con-
cludes by advocating for a wider policy commitment to statutorily embed Ban the
Box
1
practises, and by proposing that we need to move beyond our dominant reli-
ance on building employability skills to investing in the kinds of structures of employ-
ment that can support both work generation and work integration for those
distanced from the labour market.
Research context
Desistance
There is a wealth of research into desistance processes, the well-rehearsed contours
of which we do not intend to repeat (for recent critical reviews see Graham and
McNeill, 2019; Weaver, 2019). Various illustrative, but non-sequential, elements
of this process have been advanced and relate to reductions in offending behaviours
(primary or act desistance); changes in a person’s identity to a non-offending role or
identity (secondary or identity desistance); and changes in social (societal or com-
munity) recognition of someone as changed, and the development of a sense of
Weaver and Jardine 297
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