| This dissertation examines the effects of imprisonment on three life-course outcomes: criminal recidivism, labor market participation, and mortality. Although this question has been widely studied, prior research has generated conflicting findings on the degree to which imprisonment permanently alters the life-course trajectories of ex-prisoners. A variety of explanations for this diversity has been suggested, including the possibility that the non-random assignment of convicted criminals to punishments has biased the estimates.;To overcome any such endogeneity, I leveraged data from a natural experiment in Cook County, Illinois, where criminal defendants were randomly assigned to judges with significant sentencing disparities. This enabled me to produce unbiased estimates of the causal effects of imprisonment on the life-course. On average, I find that for individuals sentenced to short prison terms, imprisonment temporarily reduces recidivism, employment, and mortality but has no lasting effect on these outcome measures over the life-course. My findings suggest that the primary role of contemporary U.S. prisons is incapacitative in nature; prisons essentially function as human warehouses. I find little support for behavioral change models of imprisonment. My research highlights the need for additional research on the accumulation of disadvantage prior to imprisonment in order to better understand the poor life-course outcomes of individuals involved in the criminal justice system. |
