Does Early Contact With the Criminal Justice System Reduce the Probability of Four-Year College Enrollment? Examining Differences by Race

• In Event: Contemporary Perspectives on Higher Education Achievement and Access

Abstract

This study draws on life course theory of cumulative disadvantage to answer the following questions: (a) How does an arrest as a youth influence their likelihood of enrolling in a four-year college?; (b) How does an arrest with police charge that affects the chance of four-year university enrollment differ from that without police charge?, and (c) How do college enrollment rates among youth who have been arrested vary by race?. With the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 and linear probability model, we derived selected samples of arrested and non-arrested (N = 5,287). The results revealed a negative relationship between arrest with police charge and four-year university enrollment and significant differences in university enrollment among Black and White justice-involved students.

Authors

• Royel M. Johnson, University of Southern California

• Hyungjung Kim, The Pennsylvania State University

• Bridget Antonya Parler, The Pennsylvania State University