Work

State-level variation in the imprisonment-mortality relationship, 2001−2010

Year: 2016

Type: article

Abstract: BACKGROUNDMost research on the imprisonment-mortality relationship has focused exclusively on non-Hispanic black males and non-Hispanic white males at the national level in the United States. OBJECTIVETo document variation in this relationship across states by race/ethnicity and sex. METHODSWe estimate the crude and age-specific mortality rates of state prisoners and of the general population in 7-9 states.We also present the resulting standardized mortality ratios (SMRs). RESULTSThe results provide support for four key conclusions.First, although there is substantial cross-state variability in the mortality rates of male and female state prisoners, there is far more cross-state variability in the mortality rates of males and females in the general population.Second, the mortality advantage of male prisoners over males in the general population was larger than the mortality advantage of female prisoners over females in the general population.Third, relative to same-race and same-sex peers in the general population, black males experienced the largest mortality advantage across all of the

Source: Demographic Research

DOI: 10.4054/demres.2016.34.12

Authors: Christopher Wildeman, Margaret E. Noonan, Daniela Golinelli, E. Ann Carson, Natalia Emanuel