Measuring Intergenerational Exposure to the U.S. Justice System: Evidence from Longitudinal Links between Survey and Administrative Data
Author: Keith Finlay
Author: Michael Mueller-Smith
Author: Brittany Street
Abstract: Intergenerational exposure to the justice system is both a marker of vulnerability among children and a measurement of the potential unintended externalities of crime policy in the U.S. Estimating the size of this population has been hampered by inadequate data resources, including the inability to (1) observe non-incarceration sources of exposure, (2) follow children throughout their childhood, and (3) measure multiple adult influences in increasingly dynamic households. To overcome these challenges, we leverage billions of restricted administrative and survey records linked with the Criminal Justice Administrative Records System (CJARS). We find substantially larger prevalences of intergenerational exposure to the criminal justice system than previously reported: 9% of children born between 1999–2005 were intergenerationally exposed to prison, 18% to a felony conviction, and 39% to any criminal charge; charge exposure rates reach as high as 62% for Black children. We regress these newly quantified types of exposure on measures of child well-being to gauge their importance and find that all types of exposure (parent vs. non-parent, prison vs. charges, current vs. previous) are strongly negatively correlated with development outcomes, suggesting substantially more U.S. children are harmed by crime and criminal justice than previously thought.
Pages: 69
Date Added: 7/5/2022, 9:38:54 AM
Reading Notes:
Objective: To measure the extent of and effects of intergenerational exposure to the U.S. justice system
Importance: Data limitations mean previous estimates of exposure to the justice system have focused on exposure to parental incarceration, usually at a fixed point in time. This paper expands to multiple forms of exposure (incarceration, convictions, charges), cumulative exposure measures, and non-parental adults in household
Data & Key Variables: CJARS: incarceration, convictions, charges
Relational & Residency crosswalks from Decennial, ACS, IRS 1040, and other administrative records
Measures: Contemporaneous exposure to bio parent interactions with criminal justice system, cumulative exposure to bio parent …, cumulative exposure from all potential caregivers (coresident adults), intensive margin of exposure (# criminal charges, years imprisonment, etc)
Methodology: Comparison of measures across demographic groups
Oaxaca-Blinder-Kitagawa decomposition
Regression of exposure measures on child well-being variables
Results: 9% of children born between 1999-2005 were exposed to a parent or potential guardian incarcerated, with a larger percent exposed to a felony conviction, felony charge, or any criminal charge.
Rates are higher for Black, AIAN, and Hispanic kids than White and Asian Kids, and are also higher for kids in low income households relative to middle and high income households
Household income explains around 7-27% of racial gaps in exposure
Strong negative correlations between these measures of exposure and various measures of child well-being
Key Table/Figure:
