Health and Criminal Conviction Among African Americans: A Twin Study

• In Event: Poster Session I

Abstract

Objectives: To test associations between criminal conviction and health in a sample of African American twins.
Methods: We combined health data from the Carolina African American Twin Study of Aging with criminal conviction data from North Carolina’s Department of Public Safety. We analyzed both convicted twins matched with non-twin study members and twins discordant for criminal conviction.
Results: We found worse health during adulthood among Study members with a criminal conviction, compared to those without a criminal conviction. Poor childhood health could not explain poor adult health among convicted offenders. Criminal conviction was not causally related to poor adult health, as indicated by our discordant twin analysis. Rather, criminal conviction and poor adult health seemed to spring from unobserved factors operating within families. High alcohol consumption and lacking a spouse were uniquely observed among those convicted of a crime.
Conclusions: Though criminal conviction does not appear to cause poor health, convicted people may still be at risk of poor health and early mortality. Incorporating health objectives into offender supervision may improve long-term health outcomes for people convicted of a crime.

Authors

• Amber L. Beckley, Duke University, Stockholm University

• Rohan Palmer, Emory University

• Michael Rocque, Bates College

• Keith Whitfield, Wayne State University