The Impact of Recreational Marijuana Legalization on Emerging Adults’ Legal System Contact and Consequences: Preliminary Findings

• In Event: New Directions in Research and Practice at the Intersection of Youth/Emerging Adults and the Legal System

Abstract

Objective: This presentation shares preliminary findings from an ongoing study of recreational marijuana legalization in New Jersey for young adults’ legal system contact and consequences. It identifies how drug law liberalization has affected emerging adults for whom legal system involvement risks amplified collateral harms for their social development, socioeconomic attainment, mental health, and related outcomes.
Data/Methods: Survey data were obtained from the development and dissemination of a novel questionnaire to young adults (18-25) years old living, working, or going to school in NJ. Descriptive and multivariable quantitative analyses explore young adults’ experiences with and perceptions of policing and automated criminal record expungements post-legalization.
Results: Preliminary findings indicate if and how legalization has changed young adults’ system involvement, including: interactions with police, perceptions of police and system legitimacy, and receipt of record expungement. Subgroup analyses probe for systematic differences in experiences according to respondents’ racial or ethnic identity and/or place of residence.
Discussion/Implications This work provides base understanding of outcomes of a significant legal reform for young adults for whom legal system involvement is particularly risky for cumulative disadvantage proliferation. Follow-up analyses suggest whether these experiences differ across groups historically targeted for drug law enforcement.

Authors

• Kathleen Powell, Drexel University

• Nathan Wong Link, Rutgers University - Camden

• Sarah Lageson, Rutgers University - Newark

• Jordan Hyatt, Drexel University

• Christopher Uggen, University of Minnesota

• Loni Philip Tabb, Drexel University