The racial/ethnic health consequences of the U.S. criminal justice system: How consequential is probation and other justice system contact for self-rated and chronic conditions?

A growing body of literature has focused on the health consequences linked to contact with the U.S. criminal justice system. Due to data limitations, however, most emphasize arrests, convictions, and/or incarceration in isolation, while overlooking other important types of criminal justice contact, especially probation. Additionally, exposure to the criminal justice system and access to resources that shape the impact of exposure are unevenly distributed across racial groups, yet few studies utilize frameworks that account for these inequities. We address these gaps by examining the associations between five types of criminal justice contact, including probation, on two health outcomes, using a within race-ethnicity framework. Key findings show that probation was associated with poorer health particularly for Black Americans alongside other types of criminal justice contact. We also found limited evidence that some types of contact significantly shaped health patterns for Hispanics and White Americans.