Health Consequences of the U.S. Criminal Justice System: Disparities Across Racial/Ethnic Groups and Justice Contact Type

• In Event: Exploring the Collateral Consequences of Incarceration on Wellbeing

Abstract

While extant literature reveals important physical and mental health consequences associated with U.S. criminal justice system contact, research largely centers on the independent and discrete impacts of arrest, conviction, and/or incarceration. Less attention has been given to (a) other justice contact, including probation; (b) how each type of justice system contact shapes health patterns unevenly across racial and ethnic lines; and (c) whether involvement in the criminal justice system distinctly impacts physical, physiological, and mental health outcomes. Using National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health data, we address these gaps by examining the associations between five types of criminal justice contact – arrest, arrest and conviction, conviction and probation, conviction and incarceration, conviction and both incarceration and probation – and multiple physical, physiological, and mental health outcomes using a within race-ethnicity framework. We find that several types of criminal justice contact negatively impacted the health of Black Americans, while contact with the U.S. criminal legal system was unassociated with any health outcomes for Latino/as. In turn, we found limited evidence that contact significantly shaped health patterns among White Americans. Findings from this study provide new insights into the complex relationships between the U.S. criminal legal system, race and racism, and health.

Authors

• Casey Harris, University of Arkansas

• Michael D. Nino, University of Arkansas