Modeling Criminal History Effects on Women's Health

描述（由申请人提供）：迄今为止，关于刑事司法系统和健康的研究一般侧重于被监禁人口中的疾病传播和保健服务;然而，在美国6500万有刑事定罪的成年人中，被监禁的人只占3.5%。当个人被指控或被定罪时，一系列法律的和社会的附带后果通常随之而来。这些后果可能包括就业机会和公共福利资格的终身限制，无论刑事犯罪的严重程度如何，也无论一个人是否被监禁作为其刑事判决的一部分。这些后果对处境不利的妇女（即妇女）造成了不成比例的、更为不利的影响，那些是种族/民族少数群体，和/或穷人，和/或受教育程度较低的人），他们通常犯下轻罪水平的罪行（例如，这些妇女大多数是在公共部门工作（例如，不支付空头支票、违反交通规则），依靠公共福利和低工资、服务部门的工作来养活自己和孩子，身心健康状况极差。大量的研究结果表明：（1）就业对健康有整体积极的影响，（2）美国的主要福利计划（贫困家庭临时援助，或TANF）提供关键的收入支持和就业安置援助，（3）没有稳定收入来源的妇女经常增加他们的健康风险行为，以满足他们的食物，住所和其他基本需求。然而，据我们所知，还没有研究将刑事司法系统、福利系统和劳动力市场之间的相互关联关系整合到一项实证分析中，以评估它们如何影响健康差异。具体来说，应用系统科学动态建模方法与PAR-11-315的目标一致，我们将探讨如何无法访问TANF和/或找工作，由于有犯罪记录可能会导致这个群体的持续健康状况不佳。 拟议的研究解决了这一差距的基础上二次分析的全国代表性，9年的纵向面板调查数据集的4,898名妇女从脆弱家庭研究。这是第一次探讨是否以及如何，间接后果在刑事司法，福利和劳动力市场系统影响妇女的健康。受我们之前社区参与研究的启发，我们将探讨是否存在，严重程度（指控，定罪，监禁）和类型（毒品，暴力，盗窃/欺诈和交通） 刑事犯罪史的影响就业模式和健康（心理困扰，抑郁症，一般健康，和有限的功能）随着时间的推移，以及在何种程度上TANF接收缓和这些关系。使用动态模型进行一系列模拟，本研究的结果将包括根据TANF和就业政策和方案变化情景预测的妇女健康状况。这些发现可以为公共卫生导向的干预措施提供信息，以减少有刑事犯罪史的妇女的不良健康后果。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): To date, studies of the criminal justice system and health have generally focused on disease transmission and health care services among incarcerated populations; however, incarcerated individuals account for only 3.5% of the 65 million adults with a criminal conviction in the U.S. When individuals are charged or convicted of a crime, a set of legal and social collateral consequences typically follow. These consequences may include life-long restrictions in employment opportunities and public benefit eligibility, and occur regardless of criminal offense severity or whether a person was imprisoned as part of their criminal sentence. These consequences disproportionately, and more adversely, affect disadvantaged women (i.e., those who are racial/ethnic minorities, and/or poor, and/or lower-educated), who typically commit misdemeanor-level crimes (e.g., non- payment for bad checks, traffic violations), rely on public benefits and low-wage, service-sector jobs to support themselves and their children, and have extremely poor mental and physical health. A large body of findings indicate that: (1) employment has an overall positive impact on health, (2) the primary welfare program for women in the U.S. (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF) provides critical income support and job-placement assistance, and (3) women without stable sources of income often increase their health-risk behaviors to meet their food, shelter, and other basic needs. However, no research, to our knowledge, has integrated into one empirical analysis the interrelated relationships among the criminal justice system, the welfare system, and the labor market, to evaluate how they impact health disparities. Specifically, applying a systems science dynamic modeling approach consistent with the goals of PAR-11-315, we will explore the how the inability to access TANF and/or find employment due to having a prior criminal record may contribute to the persistently poor health status of this group. The proposed study addresses this gap based on a secondary analysis of a nationally representative, 9- year longitudinal panel survey data set of 4,898 women from the Fragile Families Study. It is the first to explore whether, and how, collateral consequences operate across criminal justice, welfare, and labor market systems to influence women's health. Motived by our prior community-engaged research, we will explore whether the presence, level of severity (charge, conviction, incarceration), and type (drug-, violence-, theft/fraud-, and traffic related) of a criminal offense history affects employment patterns and health (psychological distress, depression, general health, and limited functioning) for women over time, and the extent to which TANF receipt moderates these relationships. Using the dynamic model to conduct a series of simulations, findings from this study will include projected health trajectorie for women over time based on TANF and employment policy and program change scenarios. These findings could inform public health-oriented interventions to reduce adverse health outcomes for women with a criminal offense history.