Modeling Criminal History Effects on Women's Health

描述（由申请人提供）：迄今为止，对刑事司法系统和卫生的研究通常集中在被监禁人群中的疾病传播和卫生保健服务上；然而，在美国6500万被定罪的成年人中，被监禁的人只占3.5%。当个人被指控或被定罪时，一系列法律和社会附带后果通常会随之而来。这些后果可能包括终身限制就业机会和获得公共福利的资格，无论刑事犯罪的严重程度如何，也无论一个人是否作为刑事判决的一部分被监禁，都会发生这些后果。这些后果对处境不利的妇女（即种族/族裔少数、贫穷和/或受教育程度较低的妇女）的影响尤为严重，她们通常犯下轻罪（例如，拒付空头支票、违反交通规则），依靠公共福利和低工资的服务部门工作来养活自己和子女，身心健康状况极差。大量的研究结果表明：(1)就业对健康有总体的积极影响；(2)美国妇女的主要福利计划（贫困家庭临时援助，TANF）提供了关键的收入支持和就业援助；(3)没有稳定收入来源的妇女往往会增加健康风险行为，以满足她们的食物、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系整合到一个实证分析中，以评估它们如何影响健康差距。具体来说，应用与PAR-11-315目标一致的系统科学动态建模方法，我们将探讨由于先前有犯罪记录而无法获得TANF和/或找工作可能导致该群体持续健康状况不佳的原因。拟议的研究解决了这一差距，该研究基于对来自脆弱家庭研究的4,898名妇女的全国代表性9年纵向面板调查数据集的二次分析。这是第一个探讨附带后果是否以及如何在刑事司法、福利和劳动力市场系统中影响妇女健康的研究。受之前社区参与研究的启发，我们将探讨犯罪的存在、严重程度（指控、定罪、监禁）和类型（毒品、暴力、盗窃/欺诈和交通）

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.