The Long-Term Consequences of Criminal Justice System Intervention Among a Cohort of African Americans

INTRODUCTION: Certain life events, such as marriage and employment, have been demonstrated to redirect a person’s trajectory away from substance use and crime. One life event that may be particularly salient for African Americans is criminal justice system intervention as African Americans are more likely to be arrested and incarcerated than whites to the point that incarceration has become a predictable life event for young African American males. One goal of official criminal justice intervention is to deter future crime and drug use. Yet the theoretical notions of deviance amplification and cumulative disadvantage predict an increase in deviant behavior subsequent to criminal justice intervention. It may also be that for African Americans, there is no effect on future drug use and crime as the stigma attached to such a “common” event is low. METHODS: The current study asks, what is the impact of arrest and/or incarceration in young adulthood on long-term substance use? This paper adopts a life-course framework and investigates this question among a community cohort of 1242 African Americans from Woodlawn, an inner-city community in Chicago, first assessed in 1966 and followed-up at three time points through adulthood (age 16, 32, and 42). Since randomized designs are generally not possible when examining the effect of criminal justice intervention, we employ propensity score matching (i.e., full matching) using 26 childhood and adolescent variables to isolate the impact separately of arrest and of incarceration on long-term substance use (197 arrested and 115 incarcerated). RESULTS: Among the Woodlawn cohort, more than 30% of those using drugs at earlier time points continue use into their 40s. Preliminary regression analyses show that criminal justice intervention increases the likelihood of substance use and substance use problems among this cohort of African Americans. Moreover, those experiencing criminal justice sanctions also experience social consequences that can contribute to continued substance use such as homelessness, divorce and unemployment. The role of these potential mediators will be explored. CONCLUSIONS: This study advances knowledge about the role of the criminal justice system in impacting long-term substance use patterns using a prospective longitudinal design of a community cohort. In an era of stop and frisk and the continued reliance on incarceration, especially among people of color, investigation of the effects of these policies are imperative in understanding their impact on public safety and public health. This research can also inform the prevention of negative outcomes associated with criminal justice intervention, as well as long-term trajectories of drug use.