NCJ Number
216865
Journal
European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Dated: 2006 Pages: 35-48
Date Published
2006
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This study examined the influence of geographical and cultural affiliation and learning problems on Norwegian prison inmates’ intentions to pursue further education.
Abstract
Inmates who expressed intentions to begin upper secondary school were younger, had reading or writing problems, and had less geographical and cultural affiliation to Norway than inmates who expressed no desire to begin upper secondary school. Inmates who expressed intentions to begin university studies were younger, had no problems with mathematics, and had a non-Norwegian affiliation. The findings suggest that assessments of inmates should include a component designed to identify those inmates most likely to pursue educational opportunities while in prison so that they may be profitably diverted from punitive incapacitation programs to educational programming. Surveys were distributed to all 2,946 inmates over the age of 18 in Norwegian prisons between February 3 and 10, 2004. Surveys were completed by 1,937 inmates and measured their intentions to begin an educational course, demographic characteristics, terms of incarceration, parents’ birth countries, country of origin, perceptions of learning problems, and level of education completed. Logistic regression models were used to probe the effects of age, gender, geographical and cultural affiliation, and learning problems on educational intentions. Future research should use modeling approaches to extend the understanding of the factors that predict inmates’ educational motivations. Table, references