Adult Outcomes of Justice Involved Indigenous Youth

• Published in: Race and justice 2023-07, Vol.13 (3), p.279-302
• Main Authors: Sittner, Kelley J., Estes, Michelle L.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescents; American Indians; Arrests; Child development; Colonization; Criminal justice; Criminal statistics; Educational systems; Employment; Indigenous peoples; Inequality; Life events; Life transitions; Low income groups; Marginality; Native peoples; Political power; Secondary education; Social power; Socioeconomic factors; Socioeconomic status; Unemployment; Young adults; Youth
• ISSN: 2153-3687; 2153-3687
• DOI: 10.1177/2153368720973442

Juvenile arrest serves as a critical turning point in the life-course that disrupts the successful transition to adulthood and carries numerous consequences including diminished socioeconomic status. Despite their disproportionately high rates of contact with the criminal justice system (CJS), Indigenous people’s experiences remain largely invisible in extant research. Further, colonization has left them in an extremely marginalized position in terms of social, economic, and political power, which is compounded by CJS involvement. In the current study, we apply propensity score matching to investigate whether being arrested in adolescence impacts early adult socioeconomic outcomes (i.e., education, employment, and income). Data come from the Healing Pathways project, a longitudinal, community-based participatory study of North American Indigenous young people that includes eight waves of data in adolescence and three waves in early adulthood. We find that being arrested at least once in adolescence is associated with higher rates of unemployment, not completing high school, and low income, and lower rates of full-time employment and post-secondary education in young adulthood (mean age = 26.2 years). Criminal justice system involvement widens existing socioeconomic disparities, and remedying these consequences requires changes in how CJS policies are enacted as well as larger structural changes to address significant inequities in income, education, and employment for Indigenous people.