Rigby David, Hibi Daichi, Wygle Ruth, Lee Hedwig, Casey Joan, Gemmill Alison, Bruckner Tim
Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.
Department of Sociology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO.
Am J Epidemiol. 2024 Dec 16. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwae460.
Although the public health field has increasingly studied the collateral consequences of incarceration, we know little about the health consequences of other forms of criminal legal contact, including probation and parole. Understanding spatial and racial-ethnic variation in probation/parole across US states provides new insights into how community supervision impacts population health disparities. However, state-level probation/parole prevalence has not been adequately described. Using data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the Census for the years 2001 to 2018, we provide the first state-level estimates of probation and parole populations by race over time in the US. We find large variation in disparities across states and time that is masked by national-level estimates. The US probation population decreased, and its racial composition remained steady between 2001 and 2018. However, in all but five states, the Black-White gap in probation rates declined. The Black-White gap in parole rates declined in all but seven states. The extent to which these race-specific changes in probation or parole over time reflect adjudication processes favoring White people, and/or affect population health, warrant further investigation.
尽管公共卫生领域越来越多地研究监禁的附带后果，但我们对包括缓刑和假释在内的其他形式的刑事法律接触的健康后果知之甚少。了解美国各州缓刑/假释在空间和种族-族裔方面的差异，能为社区监管如何影响人口健康差距提供新的见解。然而，州一级的缓刑/假释普及率尚未得到充分描述。利用美国司法统计局和人口普查局2001年至2018年的数据，我们首次给出了美国按种族划分的州一级缓刑和假释人口随时间变化的估计。我们发现，州与州之间以及不同时间的差异很大，而国家级估计掩盖了这些差异。2001年至2018年期间，美国缓刑人口减少，其种族构成保持稳定。然而，除了五个州之外，其他所有州缓刑率的黑白差距都在缩小。除了七个州之外，其他所有州假释率的黑白差距都在缩小。随着时间的推移，缓刑或假释中这些特定种族的变化在多大程度上反映了有利于白人的判决过程，以及/或者对人口健康产生影响，还有待进一步调查。
