These people need basic educational skills so they can compete for jobs that have a future. It is the reason unemployment rates are so high in the ghetto. Unemployment is not due to laziness or unwillingness to work. The National Bureau of Economic Research found that young black men want to work, but they want fair treatment and to be paid the same as their white counterparts. Even though drug and alcohol abuse is a major cause of imprisonment, no significant programs are available for substance abusers while they are confined and there is no meaningful employment training.
Unemployment is a major problem among parolees and contributes to their likelihood to recidivate.
In other states programs have been successful in rehabilitating offenders. The idea is catching on because while it is more expensive than regular probation, it is much less expensive than imprisonment and fewer probationers commit new offenses while under intense supervision. In Georgia, which pioneered the idea, only 1 in 5 was arrested while under scrutiny, far lower than the average rate of 50 percent or more for those on traditional probation. Other programs, like the Perry Preschool Project, show that working with very young poor children will help them do better in school, hold jobs, not be on welfare, and be less likely to be arrested or convicted of a crime. These programs are doing what families and schools have not accomplished, but even though programs like Head Start have proven to help young children get the most out of school, it is not in use throughout the United States.