Women, the Criminal Legal System, and Racial Health Inequality

• In Event: Collateral Damage - The Impact of Incarceration in the Lives of Women

Abstract

The health consequences of incarceration have been thoroughly documented. Few studies have examined the broader health consequences of criminal legal contact, which may be particularly important for women’s health because women are less likely to be incarcerated than men. We consider the impact of criminal legal system contact on women’s health at age 29, with particular attention to the timing of first carceral contact with respect to other life course events; namely, pregnancy and childbirth. We hypothesize that arrests and convictions will significantly impact physical health limitations for women. We also predict these effects will be more pronounced for Black and Hispanic women relative to White women. Finally, we hypothesize that the health consequences of carceral contact will be more pronounced for those who experienced the birth of a child in close proximity to their carceral contact. We use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997 cohort to test these hypotheses and contextualize our findings in the salience of carceral impacts on racial health inequalities.

Authors

• Laura M. DeMarco, North Carolina State University

• Sadé Lindsay, Cornell University

• Madi Crawford, North Carolina State University