Health, Mortality, & Aging Among People with Criminal Legal System Contact in America

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT: Criminal justice contact is an important contributor to population variation in health outcomes, including mortality, morbidity, and aging. During and following the COVID-19 pandemic, people in American jails, prisons, and detention centers experienced elevated health risks that exacerbated their already high morality and aging precariousness. This proposal requests support for a three-year conference program on, “Health, Mortality, and Aging Among People with Criminal Legal System Contact in America,” with each year focusing on critical questions about the health of incarcerated people that have emerged since the COVID-19 crisis. These interdisciplinary conferences will harness the research and expertise of established and emerging scholars conducting research at the intersections of health, mortality, and aging in economics, sociology, demography/population science, law, criminology, public health, medicine, and public policy. The proposed conference programs are innovative by including the participation of people affected by legal system involvement, as well as by investigating population heterogeneity to formulate and to advance a bold new research agenda that will benefit affected communities. The program has four specific aims: (1) to advance scientific knowledge and research recommendations to improve health across the life-course for people involved in the criminal legal system; (2) to amplify the voices of affected people, families, and communities; (3) to train the next generation of criminal legal scholars; and (4) to engage multiple audiences. Deliverables will include: (1) three special issues, each devoted to a unique conference theme over the three years (i.e., mortality, health, and aging), allowing for the discrete and unique treatment of each topic; and (2) research briefs that translate findings into potential interventions and recommendations that broadly engage the individuals, families, and communities subject to criminal justice contact, as well as other stakeholders (government officials, prison and court actors, non-profits, and other advocates). By discussing and documenting how life-course transitions that intersect with the criminal legal system matter for socio-economic, health, and well-being, this conference will engage and advance the conceptual and empirical dialogues that began with several National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine workshops in 2013 and 2020, and, more recently, a half-day seminar in 2024. As leaders in the criminal legal field, the investigative team and Cornell University are uniquely positioned to host this program.