Prisoners' debt after release in the Czech Republic: Approaches and barriers to improving outcomes for prisoners.

Abstract

This master thesis addresses financial capability levels and contextual factors leading indebted prisoners and indebted people with criminal pasts in the Czech Republic to one of three debt relief outcomes: failure to submit a successful application for personal bankruptcy, successful application but failure to complete the personal bankruptcy process, or successful completion. Although debt relief has been researched extensively from the social, legal, and economic points of view, a very small portion of the surveyed literature has addressed the group of debtors that does not apply for debt relief. The primary focus of research was to shed light on why some debtors that qualify to apply for personal bankruptcy do not do so. To explore this phenomenon, several steps were taken. First, debt counselors were interviewed to explore a list of possible reasons why debtors either didn't start or didn't finish the debt relief process. Using this preliminary feedback, a survey for debt counselors was created and refined. Once the survey had been organized using Google Forms and piloted with interviewed debt counselors and feedback was received via follow-up interviews, the survey was distributed, and results were analyzed using financial capability concepts. Statistical analyses of results were calculated...