Offender perceptions on the value of employment / : Perceptions des délinquants au sujet de la valeur du travail

As a result, these findings have implications for recent recommendations on transforming corrections, including the need to enhance the quality and quantity of work opportunities, addressing the issue of competing demands in the correctional environment, and the implementation of a structured work day in Canadian penitentiaries. [...] The consequences of being convicted of a crime and the punishment one receives include the negative connotations of being labelled an offender and the stigmatization that goes along with that label. [...] Perceived advantages and disadvantages of employment and crime – Qualitative responses As part of the Work Attitudes Questionnaire, offenders were asked to identify both the advantages and disadvantages of employment and crime, through a series of open-ended and evaluative responses. [...] Paired samples t-tests In order to determine the differences in offender responses on the evaluative questions (chance of “good things” and happiness with steady job and chance of “bad things” and unhappiness with crime), between the administration of the first and second questionnaires, paired samples t-tests were used. [...] The representation of this sample approximates the total CSC population when the original study was completed: At the start of the 2000-2001 fiscal year, the Caucasian population was 70.9%, Aboriginal offenders represented 14.7% of the population, and Blacks accounted for 6.4% of all CSC offenders.