|
Starting from my 18th birthday, I had about
19 months of bachelorhood. It felt gloriously liberating even if it
turned out I was just between management.
I freely admit that I needed it; had I stayed single I’d
have probably been killed by an avalanche of kitchen trash or died
of scurvy years ago. In retrospect the only saving grace to the
experience was that my roommate was an even worse slob than I.
Once, while he was excavating a pile of debris in his room, I asked
in all seriousness if he was looking for his bed.
Life is much more organized now, not to mention
sanitary. And despite the razzing I took from friends at the time,
marriage is hardly a prison.
In fact a study released by the
University of Florida this month found that marriage actually
helps men stay out of prison. According to researchers, even the
toughest of ex-cons are less inclined to backslide after they get
married.
Much of the social research of recent years should be
taken with an ocean of salt, but this makes sense. I, for instance,
wouldn’t leave a sock on the floor. I get hives just thinking about
trying to explain that I knocked over a bank.
The study was designed to determine the causes of
criminal recidivism, as well as the key factors that keep parolees
on the straight and narrow. Researchers examined the criminal
records of 524 men in their late teens and early 20s for seven years
after release, considering alcohol and drug use, marriage, and
employment. All had lengthy rap sheets and were deemed hardcore
offenders.
In other words, not exactly prime husband material. I
suspect the women who marry these guys are mostly frustrated social
workers, which also makes sense to me given my own wife became a
social worker after we married. When you’re living with a thesis
project, why not?
In any event, only two other post-prison decisions were
found to significantly effect recidivism. Heroin addiction,
predictably, led to a greater likelihood of repeat offenses. And
though legal marriage reduced criminal activity, common law marriage
and living together out of wedlock increased the likelihood of a
return to crime, at least for nonwhites.
The message here for those who claim marriage is just a
piece of paper is, one, you’re doing it wrong; and two, the
commitment that paper represents makes folks approach it more
seriously than casual living arrangements. This is not true just
for criminals; a
Rutgers study of unmarried, nonincarcerated men this year
drew pretty much the same conclusion.
One has to wonder whether the parolee study means bad
boys who marry will behave or if criminals who are ready to go
straight are more inclined to get married in the first place.
Perhaps women who want permanent commitments are simply fussier
about whom they latch on to, though if they were that picky I
question why they’d be hanging around ex-cons. Maybe it’s the
social work thing.
That will have to wait for another study, but it is
interesting to consider how the University of Florida’s findings
might impact public policy. Upon their release, parolees could be
directed to specialized matchmaking services to go with the
traditional bus ticket, $100, and new suit of clothes. I wouldn’t
be surprised if such agencies already exist (“Hook A Crook?”
“Prisoners of Love, Inc.?” “Partners for Life Without Possibility
of Parole, Ltd.?”), though it could be the start of a new industry.
There is something civilizing about marriage, a
generalized sense of responsibility that comes from deep commitment
to another person. It is why society has a legitimate interest in
preserving the institution. If it keeps some out of other
institutions, so much the better.
|
