Incarceration and Health: How Those With Arrest and Incarceration History Fared During the COVID-19 Pandemic

• In Event: Health Effects of the Criminal Legal System

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine how those with an arrest and incarceration history fared with respect to health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior research indicates that criminal justice contact is related to harmful impacts on health, but little is known about whether this relationship has been impacted by the pandemic. Much of the current research on COVID-19 concerns the virus’s effect on crime rates, policing, and incarceration. Few have questioned the role of prior arrests and incarceration on an individual’s COVID-19 experience. This study aims to address this research question.

Data/Methods: This research question is addressed using the longitudinal data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97) and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth COVID-19 supplement. This data is used to examine the relationship between prior arrest and incarceration and an individual’s health factors during the COVID-19 pandemic (N=5,616).

Results: A multivariate analysis of the NLSY97 and NLSY97 COVID-19 supplement revealed the effects of arrest and incarceration on health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Conclusions/Implications: These findings add to research on the collateral consequences of criminal justice involvement, with respect to health.

Authors

• Anna Kyser, University of Louisville

• Alex O. Widdowson, University of Louisville