The 35,882 former offenders released by Virginia's Department of Corrections during the period of July 1, 1998, through June 30, 2002, are profiled using data provided by Virginia's Department of Corrections and Department of Correctional Education as well as the Virginia Employment Commission. Demographic characteristics of recidivating and non-recidivating former offenders released during this period, with sub-groupings to include gender, race, age, employment status, earnings, employment stability, and educational completion, as defined in the operational definitions of the study, are detailed, and the researcher's observations are noted. / Ph. D.