Incarceration Effects on Communities: Understanding the Delayed Effects on Children

• In Event: Communities and Place: Disadvantage, Education, and Race/Ethnicity

Abstract

Incarceration has been found to be negatively associated with a variety of individual outcomes, such as physical and mental health, employment prospects and future earnings, and housing instability as well as some indicators of community wellbeing, such as informal social control, and collective efficacy. However, inferring causal links from such analyses can be hindered by problems of selection and heterogeneity of effects. Studies that have found null causal effects (e.g., for recidivism) suggest that beyond being a marker of cumulative disadvantage, it independently does little to improve or worsen one’s already poor outcomes. We aim to expand the perspective of incarceration effects to consider the effects on the community, especially focusing on the young inhabitants of that community (i.e., infants and teenagers). We analyze county prison data for over three decades (N = 2,800 counties from 45 states) , combined with National Vital Statistics data, and data from the American Community Survey. Results from regression models with fixed effects for county and year indicate that higher incarceration is not significantly linked with low birthweight, but it is associated with teen births and higher infant mortality, with a peak around the 2- or 3-year lag. The results indicate the importance of accounting for the delayed effects of incarceration on the community, especially its youngest residents, with key implications for policy.

Authors

• Joseph Risi, Penn State University

• Corina Graif, Pennsylvania State University