Carbon Capture, Employment, and Coming Home from Prison

ABSTRACT

Finding and securing employment is a huge challenge for those who have been released from prison. In this paper, we argue that carbon capture technology carries the unique potential to positively impact employment opportunities for those who are undergoing the reentry process. Notably, these careers exist nearly entirely in industries which already employ ex-felons. If carbon capture technology were implemented throughout the United States, our estimates suggest that ex-felons would be eligible for nearly 3.6 million careers. Many of these jobs would be created in industries which directly or indirectly support natural resource extraction, ethanol production, electricity generation, and iron, steel, and cement production. In addition to benefiting the economy, these careers would provide returning individuals with financial security and supportive, prosocial peer relationships. Accordingly, carbon capture carries the unique ability to promote environmental justice while simultaneously providing relief to a tremendously overburdened criminal justice system.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was supported by the National Science Foundation’s EPSCoR mechanism [NSF 1632899] and the Center for Family and Demographic Research, Bowling Green State University, which has core funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [P2CHD050959].

Notes on contributors

John H. Boman, IV

John H. Boman, IV is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Bowling Green State University. His research is quantitative and focuses primarily on social relationships, peer networks, substance use, and crime and energy. Some of his recent works appear in Deviant Behavior, Criminology, and the Journal of Criminal Justice.

Adam J. Smith

Adam J. Smith is a recent an alumnus of Bowling Green State University’s Department of Sociology with a minor in Sustainable Development. He is a committee member on the Bowling Green Ohio Sustainability Advisory Board and served on the BGSU President’s Council on Sustainability.

Jennie Saxe

Jennie Saxe is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Delaware. Her environmental engineering training and her public sector regulatory experience inform her teaching portfolio and her recent research related to societal aspects of renewable energy technology. She has published in Water Environment Research, Journal of Environmental Monitoring, and most recently, Energy Research and Social Science.

Tara Righetti

Tara Righetti is a Professor in the School of Energy Resources and the College of Law at the University of Wyoming. Her research focuses primarily on issues related to energy, carbon sequestration, public lands, and climate policy. Some of her recent works appear in the Utah Law Review, Ohio State Law Review Online, and the Yale Law Review Forum.

Asif Rony

Asif Rony is a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Wyoming. His research interest includes the utilization of solar energy, chemical reaction kinetics, biomass pyrolysis, heterogeneous catalysis, and the social impact of energy production. He has expertise in fuel production from biomass using concentrated solar energy.

Maohong Fan

Maohong Fan is a School of Energy Resources professor in chemical and petroleum engineering at the University of Wyoming and an Adjunct Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Thomas J. Mowen

Thomas J. Mowen is in the Department of Sociology at Bowling Green State University. His research examines the effect of punishment on youth and family outcomes and the role of family within the process of reentry from prison. Tom’s recent work has appeared in Criminology, Justice Quarterly, and Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency.