CEDE Seminar - Maddalena Totarelli

This paper examines the impact of the Rehabilitation & Reintegration initiative, a prison-based job training and skills development program, on recidivism, labor market, and social outcomes. I use a difference-in-differences strategy to assess the causal impact of the program, introduced in the Netherlands in 2007. Drawing on rich administrative data from Statistics Netherlands and the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security, I find that prisoners eligible in the program are 4.5 percentage points (14%) less likely to reoffend over a period of three years. The program also increases earnings, though only for native and older prisoners, and enhances stable housing and personal relationships. My results highlight the potential of rehabilitation programs in facilitating the successful reintegration of former prisoners into society.