![[ Visit Client Website ]](images/banner.gif)
The 21st century has seen a decline in employment rates in the U.S. at the same time that it has experienced a historically unprecedented rise in the numbers of adults under criminal justice system control. Both low employment and high incarceration have posed serious challenges for public health. Researchers have found that communities with high rates of incarceration have poorer health, less access to education, and employment, and shorter life expectancies. Recent research has begun to explore whether these incarceration effects are also seen with community supervised populations. This study seeks to contribute to knowledge about the relationship between community supervision, employment, and mental and behavioral health.
Methods
The present study used data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) collected between 2002 and 2021. Our sample included 778,162 adults (23,537 on probation and 754,625 not). We conducted three related analyses. First, we estimated the employment rates between 2002-2021 by probation status. Second, we examined the linear trend of employment rates within sociodemographic subgroups by probation status. Third, we examined the correlations between employment and a range of sociodemographic and mental and behavioral health variables, comparing those on probation and those not.
Results
Those on probation were twice as likely to live in poverty. They experienced higher rates of poor mental and behavioral health, including two times the rate of depressive episodes and three times the rate of substance use. At the same time, prior to the Great Recession, employment rates did not vary by community supervision status. Rates began to vary moderately in the years afterward along demographic lines. Whites, for example, saw no differences by community supervision status while Black and Hispanic participants did. In general, findings indicated that risk factors were associated with more risk and protective factors were associated with less protection for those under community supervision.
Conclusions and implications
Despite the range of adversities faced by individuals under criminal justice system control, their employment rates are remarkably close to those not. At the same time, those under community supervision had substantially poorer health and substantially reduced likelihood of escaping poverty. Our findings indicate that this population carries a high health burden, that they experience distinct disadvantages in the labor market associated with this health burden, and that protective factors, such as education and income, offer less protection. We believe that this points to the importance of holistic approaches to services for this population. For example, mental and behavioral health assessment and support services may need to be integrated into employment-specific services in order for employment services to be effective and vice versa.