Child incarceration and long-term adult health outcomes: a longitudinal study

• Pages: 26-33
• Date: 12 March 2018
• Published date: 12 March 2018
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPH-09-2016-0052
• Author: Elizabeth S. Barnert,Laura S. Abrams,Lello Tesema,Rebecca Dudovitz,Bergen B. Nelson,Tumaini Coker,Eraka Bath,Christopher Biely,Ning Li,Paul J. Chung
• Subject Matter: Health & social care,Criminology & forensic psychology,Prisoner health,Sociology,Sociology of crime & law,Public policy & environmental management,Policing,Criminal justice

Child incarceration and long-term adult

health outcomes: a longitudinal study

Elizabeth S. Barnert, Laura S. Abrams, Lello Tesema, Rebecca Dudovitz, Bergen B. Nelson,

Tumaini Coker, Eraka Bath, Christopher Biely, Ning Li and Paul J. Chung

Abstract

Purpose –Although incarceration may have life-long negative health effects, little is known about

associations between child incarceration and subsequent adult health outcomes. The paper aims to discuss

this issue.

Design/methodology/approach –The authors analyzed data from 14,689 adult participants in the National

Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) to compare adult health outcomes among

those first incarcerated between 7 and 13 years of age (child incarceration); first incarcerated atWor ¼14

years of age; and never incarcerated.

Findings –Compared to the other two groups, those with a history of child incarceration were

disproportionately black or Hispanic, male, and from lower socio-economic strata. Additionally, individuals

incarcerated as children had worse adult health outcomes, including general health, functional limitations

(climbing stairs), depressive symptoms, and suicidality, than those first incarcerated at older ages or never

incarcerated.

Research limitations/implications –Despite the limitations of the secondary database analysis, these

findings suggest that incarcerated children are an especially medically vulnerable population.

Practical implications –Programs and policies that address these medically vulnerable children’s health

needs through comprehensive health and social services in place of, during, and/or after incarceration are

needed.

Social implications –Meeting these unmet health and social service needs offers an important opportunity

to achieve necessary health care and justice reform for children.

Originality/value –No prior studies have examined the longitudinal relationship between child incarceration

and adult health outcomes.

Keywords Offender health, Public health, Suicide, Health policy, Juvenile offenders, Young offenders

Paper type Research paper

Background and significance

Children who come into contact with the justice system constitute an important, yet

under-examined population. The USA incarcerates more youth than any other developed

country in the world (Hazel, 2008). Despite the lowest youth crime rate in over 20 years, the youth

incarceration rate in the USA remains approximately 7 times higher than in England and 3,000

times higher than in Japan (Hazel, 2008). In 2013, US law enforcement officials made 1.1 million

arrests of juveniles (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2016). In October

2013, 54,000 juvenile offenders were in residential placement, with over two-thirds held for

non-violent charges. Of these incarcerated youth, 85 percent were male and 41 percent were

African American (Hockenberry, 2016).

In the USA, state law rather than federal law governs the prosecuting and sentencing of juveniles

(i.e. youth under age 18), resulting in wide variations in juvenile justice laws and practices across

states. One variation is the age at which children (i.e. under age 14) are considered to have the

capacity to willfully commit crimes or be competent to stand trial in juvenile court. As of 2014,

18 states had laws that established a minimum age threshold for juvenile justice jurisdiction,

Received 1 September 2016

Revised 7 February 2017

Accepted 21 March 2017

This work was supported by a

UCLA Transdisciplinary Seed

Grant, by the UC Criminal Justice

and Health Consortium, and by the

UCLA Children’s Discovery and

Innovation Institute.

Dr Barnert’s time was supported

by an NIH National Center for

Advancing Translational Sciences

UCLA CTSI Award

(KL2TR001882).

The authors affiliations can be

found at the end of this article.

PAG E 26

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INTERNATIONALJOURNAL OF PRISONER HEALTH

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VOL. 14 NO. 1 2018, pp. 26-33, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1744-9200 DOI 10.1108/IJPH-09-2016-0052