Using interviews with 60 women leaving substance use treatment after spending time in jail, this dissertation examines the structural and agentic contributors to the employment of justice- and substance-involved women. Qualitative and quantitative findings illuminate the relevancy of spatial mismatch and social capital to women's employment, the barriers women face looking for work and their strategies to overcome them, and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on finding and maintaining a job. Policy and practice recommendations include 1) improved access to mixed-income housing in areas of high economic opportunity for justice-involved women of color, 2) mentorship programing with a focus on career development, 3) occupational licensing reform, 4) expansion of gender-responsive reentry programs and training for criminal justice practitioners, 5) increased access to state and federal support for justice-involved populations, and 6) a moratorium on employment requirements for supervision during crises of exceptional magnitude.
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