Heterogeneous and Racialized Impacts of State Incarceration Policies on Birth Outcomes in the U.S.
OFH Contributors
Key Takeaways
Three-strikes laws worsen birth weight outcomes, including mean birth weight and low birth weight, for Black infants.
In contrast, truth-in-sentencing policies were associated with gradual improvements in birth outcomes for Black and White infants.
The difference between the effects of these two policies, which ostensibly both sought to be “tough on crime,” appears to because the mechanisms linking each to health are distinct.
Executive Summary
Introduction
During the “tough on crime” era of the 1990s, many U.S. states adopted one or two hallmark policies: three-strikes laws and truth-in-sentencing statutes. These policies sought to impose harsher sentences in an effort to deter crime. While crime has been linked to worse health outcomes, there is growing concern that these policies may have had adverse outcomes by increasing incarceration rates and demonizing potential offenders, particularly in Black communities.
This article examines the impact of those two policies on Black and White birth outcomes, such as premature birth and low birth weight. These outcomes are well known to be exquisitely affected by social policies and neighborhood environments. The paper merges data of state incarceration policies to vital statistics birth records from 1984 to 2004 and employs natural experiment methodology to examine impacts.
Main Findings
- In the year states adopted three-strikes policies, Black infants experienced declines in mean birth weight and increases in low birth weight. These effects were concentrated among infants born to Black women with a high school education or less, and did not coincide with changes in incarceration or crime rates.
- Following the adoption of truth-in-sentencing policies, both Black and White infants saw modest improvements in birth weight and gestational outcomes over time. This timing of the decline was consistent with reductions in crime and incarceration rates after truth-in-sentencing policies.
- Using data on newspaper coverage, three strikes policies appear to have harmed Black infant health through affective pathways, increased racialized stigma, stress, and fear. In contrast, truth-in-sentencing policies improved infant health by improving neighborhood environments, namely reductions in crime exposure and incarceration.
Conclusion
State incarceration policies with the same overarching goal had distinct and racialized effects on infant health. Moving forward, more attention is needed to understand the numerous mechanisms through which these and other social policies affect health. In particular, there is a need to better understand the symbolic and affective impacts of public policies.