Occupational Attainment and Criminal Justice Contact: Does Type of Contact Matter?

Abstract

Contact with the justice system is associated with negative overall employment and wage outcomes. An understudied employment-based outcome of interest for justice-involved populations is occupational prestige attainment, or relative social status position based on occupation. This outcome is salient to justice-involved populations as embedment in low-quality, low-prestige work may have substantial impacts on later upward mobility. Using longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics ( n = 1,382), we assess whether arrest, probation, and jail are differentially related to occupational prestige attainment for young adults. Results indicate that justice involvement inhibits occupational prestige attainment, and that removal from the community in the form of jail may pose particular detriments to overall occupational prestige attainment compared to arrest or probation.