Exposure to the US Criminal Legal System and Well-Being: A 2018 Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Objectives. To assess the association between exposure to the US criminal legal system and well-being. Methods. We used data from the 2018 Family History of Incarceration Survey, a nationally representative cross-sectional study of family incarceration experience (n = 2815), which includes measures of participants’ own criminal legal system exposure, including police stops, arrests, and incarceration. We measured well-being across 5 domains—physical, mental, social, spiritual, and overall life evaluation—and analyzed trends in well-being by criminal legal system exposure using logistic regression. Results. Exposure to police stops, arrests, and incarceration were each associated with lower well-being in every domain compared with those not exposed. Longer durations of incarceration and multiple incarcerations were associated with progressively lower well-being. Those who were stopped and frisked by the police had low well-being similar to that of those who had been incarcerated multiple times. Conclusions. Any exposure to police contact or incarceration is associated with lower well-being in every domain. More involved exposure is associated with even lower well-being. Public Health Implications. Jail diversion and broader criminal justice reform may improve population-level well-being by reducing police contact and incarceration.

Exposure to Family Member Incarceration and Adult Well-being in the United States

“…This disparity in life expectancy is comparable to having a myocardial infarction. 26 These findings underscore the far-reaching impact of mass incarceration on both individuals who are incarcerated 27 and their family members. With more than 60% of the US population ever having any family member incarcerated, and an even higher prevalence among Black individuals, 1 our findings suggest that policy reforms that decrease incarceration could have wide-reaching outcomes for population-level and racial/ethnic disparities in health and mortality.…”

Racial Inequality in the Prevalence, Degree, Extension, and Permeation of Incarceration in Family Life

“…The survey also asks respondents if they themselves have ever been incarcerated for at least one night. Using this detailed information, I am able to provide detailed information about U.S. adults' exposure to family incarceration, which I describe using measures of the prevalence of family incarceration, previously estimated in other work using the FamHIS (Enns, et al 2019;Sundaresh, et al 2020), as well as three new descriptors of family incarceration: degree, generational extension, and permeation.…”

Low Self-control and Legal Cynicism among At-Risk Youth: An Investigation into Direct and Vicarious Police Contact

“…Psychological research indicates that persons with low self-control are prone to emotional dysregulation and may therefore experience difficulties in controlling impulses and reactions during stressful situations such as intrusive police contact (Calkins 1994; Caspi et al 1994; Gross 1999; Posner and Rothbart 2000). A separate line of social science research suggests that intrusive police contact will carry salient psychological consequences, which in turn may have implications for legal cynicism (Del Toro et al 2019; Geller et al 2014; Jackson et al 2019; Sundaresh et al 2020). For instance, Geller and Fagan (2019:30) suggest that “when interactions with police are harsh or intrusive, the psychological fallout—stress, stigma, anger—can skew the meaning of legal actors and the laws they stand for.” Indeed, past research finds key features of the police stop (e.g., officer intrusiveness, low procedural justice) are associated with greater legal cynicism (Geller and Fagan 2019; Hofer, Womak, and Wilson 2020), and persons with low self-control are at risk of experiencing negative police encounters that worsen social stigma and psychological distress (Jackson et al 2020).…”

“…Furthermore, prior research finds that individuals who are low in self-control are often emotionally dysregulated and struggle to cope with stressful situations (Calkins 1994; Caspi et al 1994; Gross 1999; Posner and Rothbart 2000). Given the psychological stress that can stem from police contact under certain adverse circumstances (Del Toro et al 2019; Geller et al 2014; Jackson et al 2019; Sundaresh et al 2020), it remains possible that self-control may not consistently predict legal cynicism across groups with differential exposure to police stops. Finally, research accounting for prior police contact generally employs broad, global measures (Nivette et al 2015, 2020) without considering highly relevant features of a given police encounter (e.g., procedural justice perceptions, police intrusiveness, and so on; Geller and Fagan 2019; Tyler et al 2014).…”