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Many theories emphasize how employment is protective against criminal recidivism, yet a criminal record is a major barrier for getting hired. We asked 591 managers to make hypothetical hiring decisions between two applicants whose key difference was the presence or absence of a criminal conviction. In addition, we randomly manipulated the education, references, wage, or experience of the applicant with the criminal record to identify which manipulations can offset the cost of the record on an applicant's probability of being selected. We found that, when credentials were the same, the applicant with a criminal record was unlikely to be hired. That applicant, however, could become likely to be hired (i.e., the likelihood crossed 50 percent) by having at least 1 year of relevant experience, a GED or a college degree, or references from a former employer or a professor. Incomplete degrees, references from criminal justice professionals, or wage discounts did not make the applicant with the record likely to be hired. Findings confirm that a criminal record carries a high employability cost but also indicate that this cost can be superseded by specific credentials that signal an applicant's reliability, which can be provided by existing programs and institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses data from the most recent wave of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (wave V of Add Health) to examine the predictors of experiencing unfair treatment by police. It also considers the degree to which unfair police treatment is associated with a range of social‐psychological and behavioral outcomes in adulthood, including depressive symptoms, self‐efficacy, suicide ideation, and drug use. Finally, this study examines whether any of the relationships between unfair police treatment and adult outcomes differ by race and ethnicity. Most broadly, results suggest that the odds of reporting ever experiencing unfair treatment by police are disproportionately higher among minorities (and more specifically non‐Latino Blacks), men, and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Furthermore, such experiences are detrimental to all of the social‐psychological and behavioral outcomes in adulthood, even after accounting for the differences in who is most likely to experience unfair police treatment via propensity score methods. Lastly, some of these consequences seem to be more pronounced among non‐Latino Whites compared with non‐Latino Blacks, which we believe is attributable to the unfortunate reality that unfair police contact continues to be a normative life‐course event for Black people in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses data from the most recent wave of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (wave V of Add Health) to examine the predictors of experiencing unfair treatment by police. It also considers the degree to which unfair police treatment is associated with a range of social‐psychological and behavioral outcomes in adulthood, including depressive symptoms, self‐efficacy, suicide ideation, and drug use. Finally, this study examines whether any of the relationships between unfair police treatment and adult outcomes differ by race and ethnicity. Most broadly, results suggest that the odds of reporting ever experiencing unfair treatment by police are disproportionately higher among minorities (and more specifically non‐Latino Blacks), men, and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Furthermore, such experiences are detrimental to all of the social‐psychological and behavioral outcomes in adulthood, even after accounting for the differences in who is most likely to experience unfair police treatment via propensity score methods. Lastly, some of these consequences seem to be more pronounced among non‐Latino Whites compared with non‐Latino Blacks, which we believe is attributable to the unfortunate reality that unfair police contact continues to be a normative life‐course event for Black people in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we consider the effect of criminal records on college admissions. Nearly 72 percent of colleges require criminal history information during their application processes, which indicates that an applicant's criminal history could be a significant impediment to achieving the benefits associated with higher education. We conducted a modified experimental audit to learn whether and to what extent criminal records affect admissions decisions. Matched same‐race pairs of tester applications were sent to a national sample of nonelite 4‐year colleges, with both testers applying as either Black or White. Within each pair, one application signaled a prior low‐level felony conviction only when required by the application. Consistent with the findings of research on employment, we find the rejection rate for applicants with felony convictions was nearly 2.5 times the rate of our control testers. Relative to the large racial differences observed in previous studies of hiring decisions, we find smaller racial differences in admissions decisions. Nevertheless, Black applicants with criminal records were particularly penalized when disclosing a felony record at colleges with high campus crime rates. We address implications for reentry, racial progress, and the college "Ban the Box" movement. We suggest colleges consider narrowing the scope of such inquiries or removing the question altogether – particularly when it conflicts with the goals of these institutions, including reducing the underrepresentation of students of color." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The findings from a growing body of research reveal that incarceration is detrimental for both physical and mental health. Incarceration, however, is typically conceptualized and operationalized as a dichotomy; individuals either have, or have not, been incarcerated. Considering that incarceration can range from one day to several years, a dichotomous measure may be overlooking important variations across lengths of exposure. In addition, most inmates are incarcerated more than once. In this study, we help to fill this gap by examining the relationship between incarceration dosage, measured as time served and number of spells, and mental health among a sample of young adults from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1997. By using fixed‐effects modeling, we find that the number of spells and the months incarcerated are positively related to mental health symptoms and the likelihood of depression. The association, however, is contingent on whether a respondent is currently or formerly incarcerated. Among current inmates, more time served is expected to improve mental health and the number of spells is unrelated to either outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decision makers such as employers and state occupational licensing officials are often encouraged or required to incorporate evidence of rehabilitation into hiring decisions when applicants have criminal records. Current policy movements at the local, state, and federal levels may increase the use of such individualized assessments. Yet little is known about which types of information these decision makers use, how they evaluate evidence, and how they ultimately make determinations. We examine a sample of 50 unarmed security guard licensing decisions in New York State using content analysis. We find that administrative law judges rely on a narrative framework to document whether applicants currently have a prosocial identity and merit licensure. Judges typically describe one of two prosocial identity narratives for successful applicants: The applicant demonstrates achieving meaningful change, or his or her criminal record represents an aberration. Two factors seem vital to these assessments: applicants' postconviction trustworthiness, as demonstrated through good conduct or inferred through positive appraisals, and credible testimony. In narrative explanations, personal responsibility and adult milestones are often discussed, reflecting a judicial nod to the notion of a "transition to adulthood." The results hold implications for scholars and policy makers examining employment barriers, stigma remediation, and collateral sanctions for individuals with criminal records. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study draws on labeling theory and education research on the steps to college enrollment to examine 1) whether and for how long arrest reduces the likelihood that high-school graduates will enroll in postsecondary education and 2) whether any observed relationships are mediated by key steps in the college enrollment process. With 17 years of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97) and propensity score matching, we derived matched samples of arrested and nonarrested but equivalent youth (N = 1,761) and conducted logistic regression and survival analyses among the matched samples to examine the short- and long-term postsecondary consequences of arrest. The results revealed that arrest reduced the odds of 4-year college enrollment directly after high school, as well as that high-school grade point average and advanced coursework accounted for 58 percent of this relationship. The results also revealed that arrest had an enduring impact on 4-year college attendance that extended into and beyond emerging adulthood. Two-year college prospects were largely unaffected by arrest. These findings imply that being arrested during high school represents a negative turning point in youths' educational trajectory that is, in part, a result of having a less competitive college application. Implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Everywhere you look, incarceration seems to be doing harm. Research has implicated incarceration not only in worse outcomes for individuals, their families, and their communities but also in growing inequality. Yet incarceration may not always harm society-even if it does harm those who experience it. To consider this possibility, I build an argument demonstrating how the macro-level consequences of incarceration may be distinctively harmful in the United States, focusing on the incarceration-health relationship as one indicator of a broader phenomenon. I then test my hypothesis by using an unbalanced panel data set including 21 developed democracies (N = 414) and a series of ordinary least-squares models predicting three measures of population health as a function of incarceration. Models including only a main effect of incarceration demonstrate an inverse association between changes in incarceration and changes in population health. Models including an incarceration by U.S. interaction, however, indicate that the population health consequences of changes in incarceration are far worse in the United States than elsewhere. Taken together, the results indicate that the United States is exceptional for both its rate of incarceration and its effects of incarceration, although it is unclear what drives this exceptionalism in effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]