Working Paper: NBER ID: w31888
Authors: Courtney Boen; Elizabeth Bair; Hedwig Lee; Atheendar Venkataramani
Abstract: While state incarceration policies have received much attention in research on the causes of mass incarceration in the U.S., their roles in shaping population health and health disparities remain largely unknown. We examine the impacts of two signature state incarceration policies adopted during the “tough on crime” era of the 1990s—three strikes and truth in sentencing—on Black and White birth outcomes. Using a difference-in-differences event study research design that models the dynamic impacts of these policies over time, we find that these policies had opposing effects on birth outcomes. We find that birth weight outcomes—including mean birth weight and low birth weight—for Black infants worsened markedly in the year three strikes policies were adopted. By contrast, birth outcomes for Black and White infants gradually improved after truth in sentencing policies were adopted. The discordant findings point to distinct, countervailing mechanisms by which sentencing policies can affect population health. We provide suggestive evidence that three strikes policies adversely impacted Black birth outcomes through affective mechanisms, by inducing highly racialized, stigmatizing public discourse around the time of policy adoption, while truth in sentencing likely impacted birth outcomes via material mechanisms, namely gradually reductions in community incarceration and crime rates. Altogether, these findings point to the need to further interrogate state criminal legal system policies for their impacts on population health, considering whether, how, and for whom these policies result in health impacts.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: I10; I14; I18; K4
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| three strikes laws (K40) | adverse birth outcomes (J13) |
| three strikes laws (K40) | low birth weight (J13) |
| three strikes laws (K40) | decline in mean birth weight (J19) |
| truth in sentencing laws (K40) | improved birth outcomes (J13) |
| truth in sentencing laws (K40) | improvements in birth weight outcomes (J13) |
| truth in sentencing laws (K40) | reductions in crime and incarceration rates (K14) |