Job Searching with A History of
Drugs and Crime
SUSAN ELEY
Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of Stirling
Abstract: This article explores the experiences and aspirations of offenders with histories
of substance misuse in job searching. The analysis is based upon qualitative data from a
localised study of 27 men and two women who were undertaking community-based court
orders in Scotland. Their perspectives on job searching, job-readiness and aspirations for
sustained employment including the role of self-employment are presented. The article
concludes that with adequate support, greater tolerance and flexibility by employers and
job searchers could contribute to reducing the vicious cycle of suspicion and dishonesty.
Policy action needs to be sustained and possibly augmented to include enterprise training.
International definitions of rehabilitation include the therapeutic potential
of employment as an asset in the process of restoring function and
reintegration into society (International Labour Office 1981; United
Nations Division of Narcotic Drugs 1982; Shahandeh 1985). Work has
been argued to offer drug users a sense of responsibility, personal value,
independence, security, dignity, and a stake in society (Phillips and South
1992). The refocusing of welfare around paid work, known as the New
Deal, by the New Labour governments has contributed to the creation of
employability initiatives, aimed at drug users, to transform the ‘passive’
welfare of being a social security benefit recipient into the ‘active’ welfare of
being a wage earner and taxpayer. Since 1997, there has been a steady
move to considering education, training and employment as being part of
treatment programmes for recovering drug users in the United Kingdom.
Enterprising treatment services can play an important role in the raft of
drug-related criminal justice initiatives in the United Kingdom (South et al .
2001). In Scotland, there are three broad categories of support: treatment
and rehabilitation services, specialist employability programmes and
mainstream education and training and employment services. General
treatment and rehabilitation services largely focus on what are called ‘soft’
skills such as CV writing, letters of application and preparing for
interviews. Specialist employability programmes are frequently based on
an individual’s strengths, skills and interests. They aim to help the client
pursue more concrete ‘hard’ skills for the labour market, such as learning
towards a recognised qualification in landscape gardening, plumbing,
catering. Training and employment services that work with clients to find
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ISSN 0265-5527, pp. 162–175
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placements and work opportunities are a third element of employment
support for drug users.
This article explores the e xperiences and aspirations of offenders with
histories of substance misuse in job searching. While there is a significant
literature on the attitudes and barriers (individual and structural) to the
employment of drug users (Effective Interventions Unit 2001; Klee,
McLean and Yavorsky 2002; Effective Interventions Unit 2003), the
employment of ex-offenders (for example, Soothill 1974; Crow et al. 1989;
Downes 1995; Gill 1997) and the role of employment in the recovery from
dependent drug use (for example, McIntosh and McKeganey 2001, 2002;
Effective Interventions Unit 2003) and the relationship between unem-
ployment and crime (for example, Raphael and Winter-Ember 1999,
2001; Papps and Winkelmann 2000), limited research attention has been
given to the complexity of job searching by ex-offenders with substance
misuse problems, despite its centrality to policy action to improve social
inclusion.
This article aims to address the above research gap. It considers three
questions that relate to the experiences of offenders with histories of
substance misuse in relation to job searching, their aspirations of future
work and self-employment. The literature on job-readiness and its position
in current labour market policy, the experiences of ex-offenders and drug
users in seeking employment and the implications of drug use as a
relapsing condition on job searching will be considered first. Following a
brief outline of the research methodology, the study findings on the
experiences and aspirations of a small sample of offenders with histories of
substance misuse in job searching will be presented before concluding
remarks.
Job-readiness
Job-readiness is a central component within the wider context of
employability (Hillage and Pollard 1998). Policy initiatives with increased
provision such as the New Futures Fund projects and Progress2Work aim
to help individuals to become ‘job-ready’ to meet this demand suggested by
research with employers (Effective Interventions Unit 2003). Randall and
Brown (1999) have suggested a job-readiness index that measures
improvement on a variety of dimensions that could include basic skills
(such as literacy and numeracy) and social behaviour (such as punctuality
and attendance). A review in Scotland suggested that the majority of drug
users who had gone through active project-based support would go
through three interim stages to gain experience or qualifications (Effective
Interventions Unit 2001). The three stages were: (i) those with multiple
problems for whom employment is not a short term or medium possibility;
(ii) those who are not job-ready at present but have potential to become so
with further support, and (iii) those who are or nearly job-ready. The work
of Johnson and Burden (2003) has increased our understanding of what
employers mean by employability and the value they place on different
employability attributes. Key attributes cover not only skills and work
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experience, but also attitudes and motivation that are relevant to the
concept of job-readiness.
Employment of Ex-offenders and Substance Misusers
A survey of young multiply disadvantaged New Deal entrants (Lakey,
Barnes and Parry 2001) confirmed that care leavers, ex-offenders, those
with drug problems and those who had been homeless face barriers to
employment. Ex-offenders may constitute up to one-third of the working
population (Home Office 1995), forming a significant group in the labour
market. Ex-offenders are multiply disadvantaged (Fletcher, Woodhill and
Herrington 1998; Fletcher et al. 2001). They face a myriad of barriers to
employment including ‘employer discrimination; poor basic skills and a
lack of qualifications; a lack of recent work experience; low self-esteem,
behavioural and health problems; problems of poverty and debt; and
insecure housing’ (Fletcher 2001, p.873). Across all ethnic groups, having a
criminal record is a major disadvantage in getting work (Fletcher, Woodhill
and Herrington 1998). Gender comparisons have generally suggested that
there are more similarities than differences in the employment of ex-
offenders. Fewer than one-fifth of women on release from prison have paid
employment to enter (Dempster 2004) and caring responsibilities,
transport and availability of part-time work are important gendered
differentials in job searching with a criminal record.
Irrespective of ethnicity or gender, opiate users have been found to be
more likely to be unemployed than non-drug users (MacDonald and
Pudney 2000). The Drug Outcome Research in Scotland (DORIS) study
showed that out of 559 drug users: 4% had a job; 13% were in legal paid
employment in the last six months; 8% attended training or education
courses in the last six months; 58% had any formal qualifications and 21%
had seen anyone about employment, training or education in the last six
months (Kemp and Neale 2005). Klee, McLean and Yavorsky (2002)
reported that three-quarters of the problem drug users in their study faced
‘a double disadvantage in getting work because of their criminal records’
(p.19). According to education, training and employment professionals,
the conditions that made problem drug users unemployable were poor
mental health, lack of motivation and chaotic lifestyles, lack of work
experience, employer’s attitudes, inability to adapt to a structured
environment and poor social skills (Klee, McLean and Yavorsky 2002).
With the exception of the research of Klee and colleagues, there are few
qualitative studies on job searching in ex-offenders with substance misuse
problems, despite the importance of their voices to informing policy and
practice. This article complements earlier research by directly seeking the
perspectives of offenders who are not formally in contact with employment
services. The following questions are addressed in the analysis below: What
are the experiences of offenders with histories of substance misuse in job
searching? Do they consider themselves to be ‘job-ready’? What do they
aspire to do in the world of work? What role does self-employment play in
their experiences and aspirations?
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Methodology and Study Group
This article reports on qualitative data collected from group interviews
with 27 men and two women, aged 18 to 45 years, who were undertaking
either a supervised attendance order or a community service order in June
to August 2001.
1
Participants for the study were purposively recruited through criminal
justice social work professionals in two local authority areas in Scotland.
Following agreement of the Head of Criminal Justice Social Work,
identified criminal justice workers were contacted with the aim of accessing
suitable participants who had current or recent substance misuse issues
and were undertaking a community-based court order, to take part in
group interviews.
Drawing upon the ‘naturally occurring activities’ within the structure of
community-based court orders, eight group interviews with between two
and five individuals were conducted. This approach is well established in
field research with drug users (Rawlings 2004). The interviewer used a
topic guide and the group interviews were between one and two hours in
duration. Each group interview was tape-recorded and transcribed
verbatim. The extracts presented in this article have been edited for
accessibility to a wider readership. Informed consent from the participants
was negotiated in three key areas (Mason 2002, p.81): participation in the
interview and the right to withdraw their consent; using the data generated
from the interview and allowing the researcher to interpret and analyse the
data. Due to anonymity, it was not possible in this study to recontact
individuals to share interpretations of the data or reproductions of their
words.
The background details of the contributors to each of the group
interviews are shown in Table 1. In terms of ethnicity, all were white UK,
which reflects the general population of the research site. Four participants
were on supervised attendance oders and 25 participants were completing
community service orders. Only two women were available to take part in
the group interviews which is partially explained by their under-
representation among offenders on community service orders (McIvor
1998).
All of the participants described themselves as having either current or
past substance misuse problems. The following sections present the
analysis of five themes – work experiences, job searching, job-readiness,
aspirations and self-employment – that emerged from the group interviews
which were coded and analysed using a constant comparative method
(Glaser and Strauss 1967, p.3).
Work Experiences
Most of the research participants had once had a job that allowed them to
do the ‘ordinary’ things in life: ‘A nine to five job. Five days a week, a
mortgage and all that, I had both of that’ (P4.2). Klee, McLean and
Yavorsky (2002) found that ‘over a third said they had lost a job through
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drugs, mostly a result of the effects on performance such as lack of
concentration but also poor timekeeping and absenteeism’ (p.20). The
present study had similar findings: ‘I had a full-time job and got the sack
because of drugs’ (P4.3).
The pressures of work were believed to have contributed to relapse in
some instances:
I started the drink because I was doing shifts, four days on, four day off and then
four night shifts . . . I couldn’t sleep during the day so I was drinking half bottle . . .
to get to sleep and it escalated . . . right so at a point I was on a bottle a day. . . I mean
I was still working but I was making good money . . . so a bottle a day, it wasn’t
expensive . . . when it came to the weekend, I was going out and getting full of
Ecstasy . . . and then the weekend turned into full weeks. I was going into work full
of Ecstasy, every single day of the week . . . I got made redundant. (P3.4)
TABLE 1
Characteristics of 29 Participants in Group Interviews
Group ID Gender Order Substance misuse Treatment
P1.1 M SAO Alcohol Psychiatrist
P1.2 F SAO Heroin Methadone, GP
P2.1 M CS Polydrug1alcohol –
P2.2 M CS Alcohol Abstinence
P2.3 M CS Methadone Methadone, counselling
P2.4 M CS Crack1cannabis Self-detox
P3.1 M CS Alcohol Controlled drinking
P3.2 M CS Alcohol Controlled drinking
P3.3 M CS Polydrug1alcohol GP
P3.4 M CS Ecstacy1cannabis GP
P4.1 F CS Heroin –
P4.2 M CS Heroin Methadone, GP
P4.3 M CS Polydrug1alcohol –
P4.4 M CS Alcohol Counselling
P5.1 M CS Cannabis –
P5.2 M CS Alcohol GP
P5.3 M CS Painkillers Methadone/diazepam, GP
P5.4 M CS Cocaine Valium, GP
P5.5 M CS Heroin –
P6.1 M SAO Alcohol Abstinence
P6.2 M SAO Alcohol Abstinence
P7.1 M CS Heroin Abstinence
P7.2 M CS Alcohol Alcoholics Anonymous
P7.3 M CS Alcohol1painkillers GP
P7.4 M CS Heroin Methadone, counselling
P8.1 M CS Alcohol1solvents GP
P8.2 M CS Cannabis Antidepressants, GP
P8.3 M CS Alcohol Abstinence
P8.4 M CS Alcohol Abstinence
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