Substance use, mental health, chronic medical conditions and criminal justice contact in a nationally representative sample

Purpose The amount of overlap between criminal justice practices and public health is growing and more research is needed to guide new initiatives. This study was designed to assess the relationships between various chronic medical conditions, substance use severity, mental health indicators and criminal justice contact using the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Design/methodology/approach Analyses were conducted in three stages to comprehensively examine the relationships between various indicators of physical health, mental health, substance use severity and criminal justice contact. Findings Results demonstrate indicators of substance use severity surpass physical and mental health conditions as stronger determinants of any criminal justice contact, as well as repeated interactions with police. In addition, combinations of multiple conditions increase the likelihood of criminal justice involvement, but substance use remains a consistent factor contributing to the strongest associations. These findings highlight the importance of capitalizing on the initial point of criminal justice contact to address substance use to prevent further and subsequent involvement in the system. Research limitations/implications Criminal justice initiatives based on least harm solutions require evidence to support public health-oriented approaches. The unique approach to examining the intersection of criminal justice practices and health provided in this study can be used to inform alternates to arrest. Practical implications The least harmful practices should be adopted to address health conditions at the time of criminal justice contact. These practices should focus heavily on injection drug use as a primary factor associated with the prior arrest. Practices designed to divert arrestees with health conditions away from jails are needed. Law enforcement practices can significantly benefit from public health-oriented approaches. Originality/value Criminal justice initiatives based on least harm solutions require evidence to support public health-oriented approaches. The unique approach to examining the intersection of criminal justice practices and health provided in this study can be used to inform alternates to arrest.

Life Stressors and Sleep Problems as Predictors of the Likelihood of Lifetime Cannabis Use among Black Adults with Criminal Justice Contact

Background: The criminal justice system is the second largest referral source to publicly funded marijuana use disorder treatment. Individuals with criminal justice contact (be­ing unfairly treated or abused by the police, lifetime arrest, incarceration, or parole) have reported notably high levels of stress, sleep problems, and marijuana use. There are well-known race and sex disparities in marijuana use and criminal justice contact. However, understanding is limited on the role that stressors and sleep problems con­tribute to marijuana use among Black adults who experience criminal justice contact.Objectives: To determine whether life stressors and sleep problems contribute to lifetime marijuana use among Black adults with criminal justice contact and if there are sex differences.Methods: We performed multivariate logis­tic analysis, using nationally representative data of a non-institutionalized population sample (n=1508) of the National Survey of American Life from 2001 to 2003. We compared life stressors and sleep problems between Black adults with criminal justice contact who had lifetime marijuana use and those who did not have lifetime marijuana use. All analyses were stratified by sex.Results: In the sample of Black males with criminal justice contacts, individuals who reported financial stress (PR: 1.34, 95% CI: 1.12-1.60) had a higher prevalence of experiencing lifetime marijuana use than Black males who reported no financial stress. Black males who reported that they were spiritual (PR: .76, 95% CI: .61-.93) had a lower prevalence of experiencing lifetime marijuana use than Black males who indicated that they were not spiritual. Black females who reported family stress (PR: 1.38, 95% CI: 1.04-1.82) had a higher prevalence of experiencing lifetime mari­juana use than Black females who reported no family stress.Conclusions: These results underscore the importance of considering sex differences in life stressors when developing etiologic models of marijuana use disorder for Black adults who have experienced criminal jus­tice contact.Ethn Dis. 2021;31(2):187-196; doi:10.18865/ed.32.1.187

Women's Health in the Era of Mass Incarceration

Dramatic increases in criminal justice contact in the United States have rendered prison and jail incarceration common for US men and their loved ones, with possible implications for women's health. This review provides the most expansive critical discussion of research on family member incarceration and women's health in five stages. First, we provide new estimates showing how common family member incarceration is for US women by race/ethnicity and level of education. Second, we discuss the precursors to family member incarceration. Third, we discuss mechanisms through which family member incarceration may have no effect on women's health, a positive effect on women's health, and a negative effect on women's health. Fourth, we review existing research on how family member incarceration is associated with women's health. Fifth, we continue our discussion of the limitations of existing research and provide some recommendations for future research. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Sociology, Volume 47 is July 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Changes in Jail Admissions Before and After Traumatic Brain Injury

Objectives: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is differentially concentrated within incarcerated populations. Despite the consistency of this observation, the timing of within-individual changes in criminal justice contact in relation to TBI remains under-investigated. For example, previous studies have primarily considered TBI as a causal influence of later criminal justice contact. However, TBI may also serve as a consequence of criminal justice contact or a criminogenic lifestyle. The current study simultaneously observes both possibilities by examining criminal justice contact before, around the time of, and after the first reported TBI. Methods: Drawing from a combination of self-report and lifetime official record data from a jail cohort admitted between February 2017 and September 2017 and who sustained their first reported TBI at age 21 or older (N = 531), the current study examines jail admissions in the 24 months before and 24 months after the first reported TBI and across eight biannual intervals (N = 4,248 person-periods). Results: Any and misdemeanor admissions slightly increased pre-TBI and continued to increase around the time of and following TBI, never returning to pre-TBI levels. Felony admissions decreased around the time of injury and increased post-TBI. The introduction of a comparison group further solidified these findings. Observed patterns did not vary across sex, but any and felony admissions increased around the time of TBI for those who experienced a loss of consciousness following injury. Conclusions: These findings indicate that criminal justice contact is greatest post-TBI, but that criminal justice contact also increases before sustaining a TBI.

Criminal Justice Contact and Indebtedness in Young Adulthood: Investigating the Potential Role of State-level Hidden Sentences

Contact with the American criminal justice system is associated with socioeconomic disadvantage and financial insecurity, but little research has explored the link between criminal justice contact and indebtedness. In this study, we ask whether contact in young adulthood is associated with access to credit and unsecured debt burdens. We also focus on state-level policies that operate alongside official punishments and restrict citizenship and societal participation among the justice-involved (termed hidden sentences), and ask whether such policies moderate the association between criminal justice contact and indebtedness. We find that criminal justice contact, especially incarceration, is associated with reduced access to unsecured credit and greater absolute and relative debt burdens. These associations are strongest for individuals residing in states with more onerous hidden sentence regimes. We argue that indebtedness is a key socioeconomic consequence of criminal justice contact and that hidden sentences may exacerbate these consequences.