NCJ Number
143447
Date Published
1992
Length
74 pages
Annotation
To examine the effects of obtaining a General Educational Development (GED) diploma in jail upon recidivism, this study compared an experimental group of 40 subjects who attained a GED at the Will County (Illinois) jail school with a control group of 40 inmates.
Abstract
Other hypotheses were developed to investigate the relationships between age, size of community, race, prior schooling, prior convictions, gender, GED scores, and recidivism. Contrary to the hypothesis that earning a GED would reduce recidivism over the five years following release, the findings showed a significant positive correlation between earning a GED in jail and GED score, and recidivism. The experimental and control groups were homogenous except for race; more whites than blacks were in the GED program. There were no significant relationships between the other variables studied and either GED attainment or recidivism.