Do Experiences During Incarceration Mediate the Relationship between Incarceration Length and Labor Market Outcomes? Findings from a U.S. Sample

This study examined possible indirect associations between incarceration length and labor market outcomes. Regression, path, and causal mediation analyses of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 tested the associations among incarceration length, post-release employment, and potential mediators (education and employment programming while incarcerated, distance from home to the correctional facility, and contact with significant others while incarcerated). The associations between incarceration length and post-release employment were generally negative but were not statistically significant once confounds were accounted for. Although incarceration length predicted the mediators as expected, there was little evidence of indirect effects of length on employment via the mediators. Incarceration’s effects on human and social capital may not always translate to later labor market performance.