Level of Criminal Justice Contact and Early Adult Wage Inequality

Abstract

This study explores heterogeneity in the relationship between criminal justice contact and early adult wages using unconditional quantile regression models with sibling fixed effects, estimated separately by race-ethnicity. The findings support the contention that the relationship between criminal justice contact and wages is heterogeneous in three respects: level of contact, race, and location in the wage distribution. First, entry-level contacts in the form of arrest are largely uncorrelated with wages, whereas wage gaps are evident following late-stage contacts in the form of jail or prison incarceration. Second, the wage gap from incarceration is observable among black respondents, but not whites or Latinos. Third, the size of the wage gap from incarceration is approximately U-shaped with respect to the black wage distribution.

Keywords

• arrest
• incarceration
• wage inequality