ABSTRACT
While stratification researchers typically focuses on schools, labor markets, and the family as primary institutions affecting inequality, a new institution has emerged as central to the sorting and stratifying of young disadvantaged men: the criminal justice system. This chapter focuses on the consequences of incarceration for the employment outcomes of black and white men. For each individual processed through the criminal justice system, police records, court documents, and corrections databases detail dates of arrest, charges, conviction, and terms of incarceration. In considering the labor market impacts of race and criminal background, questions of causality loom large. The combination of minority status and criminal background appears to intensify employers' negative reactions, leaving few employment prospects for black ex-offenders. The results of this research suggest that both race and criminal background represent extremely powerful barriers to job entry. The matched design allows us to separate speculation about applicant qualifications from the preferences or biases of employers.
