Spatial Determinants of Post-Conviction Health

• In Event: Navigating Reentry

Abstract

The aftermath of criminal justice involvement extends beyond the confines of incarceration, influencing
long-term health and wellbeing. The widespread and legally sanctioned practice of housing
discrimination against individuals with criminal records through tenant screening practices potentially
filters them to neighborhoods with harmful health implications. The quality of residential
environments—defined by varying levels of exposure to hazards and access to health-promoting
resources—plays a critical role in shaping health outcomes, underscoring the need to examine spatial
determinants of health among formerly incarcerated individuals and those with felony convictions. We
link spatial data capturing multiple dimensions of exposure and access to restricted-use data from the
National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth
1997 (NLSY97) to analyze the degree to which incarceration spells and felony convictions shape place
and health outcomes for individuals with these forms of criminal justice contact. We use individual fixed
effects models and a host of covariates related to selection into both neighborhood type and criminal
justice contact to estimate how conviction and incarceration relate to changes in neighborhood-based
exposures and access consequential to health. We further examine how these relationships differ by
race-ethnicity, homeownership status, and parental status.

Authors

• Brielle Bryan, Rice University

• Seth A. Williams, Rice University