LINEAR REGRESSION STATISTICS WERE USED TO DETERMINE THE CORRELATION BETWEEN UNEMPLOYMENT RATES AND INCARCERATION RATES FOR 1971 TO 1976. UNEMPLOYMENT RATES WERE OBTAINED FROM REPORTS PREPARED BY THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS; INCARCERATION RATES FROM LEAA NATIONAL PRISONER STATISTICS. THE CORRELATION COEFFICIENT WAS DETERMINED BETWEEN UNEMPLOYMENT RATES AND INCARCERATION RATES FOR (A.) ALL STATES IN A GIVEN YEAR (POINT-IN-TIME OR CROSS-SECTIONAL ANALYSIS), AND (B.) EACH STATE FROM 1971 TO 1976 (PERIOD-IN-TIME OR LONGITUDINAL ANALYSIS). ACCORDING TO THE DATA, POINT-IN-TIME CORRELATION FOR ALL YEARS IS EXTREMELY LOW. THE STUDY SUGGESTS THAT DUE TO CULTURAL MORES AS WELL AS INDUSTRIALIZATION PATTERNS OF DIFFERENT STATES, THE INCARCERATION RATES MAY BE MORE A FUNCTION OF PAROCHIAL ATTITUDES THAN UNEMPLOYMENT RATES. IN APPROXIMATELY HALF OF THE 50 STATES, UNEMPLOYMENT RATES VARY DIRECTLY WITH INCARCERATION RATES AT LEVELS OF SIGNIFICANCE GREATER THAN .10 DURING A PERIOD-IN-TIME. YET BECAUSE THE OTHER HALF OF THE STATES DO NOT SHOW STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE, THE STUDY CONCLUDES THAT THERE IS NO CONCLUSIVE CORRELATION BETWEEN THE TWO DURING A PERIOD-IN-TIME. HOWEVER, BECAUSE ALMOST ALL STATES INDICATE A DIRECT, THOUGH NOT STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIP, FURTHER INVESTIGATION OF THIS PHENOMENA IS INDICATED. TWO TABLES AND 15 REFERENCES ARE APPENDED.