Mass Probation: Effects of Sentencing Severity on Mental Health for Black and White Individuals.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Incarceration is associated with negative impacts on mental health. Probation, a form of community supervision, has been lauded as an alternative. However, the effect of probation versus incarceration on mental health is unclear. Our objective was to estimate the impact on mental health of reducing sentencing severity at individuals' first adult criminal-legal encounter.

Methods

We used the US National Longitudinal Survey on Youth 1997, a nationally representative dataset of youth followed into their mid-thirties. Restricting to those with an adult encounter (arrest, charge alone or no sentence, probation, incarceration), we used parametric g-computation to estimate the difference in mental health at age 30 (Mental Health Inventory-5) if (1) everyone who received

SUBMITTER: LeMasters K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10683971 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature