Marked by a Criminal Record? Socioeconomic Differences in the Relationship Between Early Criminal Justice Contacts and Adult Life Outcomes

This paper combines life course theory and empirical research on the collateral consequences of punishment as a backdrop to exploring the relationship between both the presence of and seriousness of a criminal record measured in early adulthood (age 25) and later life outcomes (ages 41-49), both in total and by socioeconomic status. The analysis relies on a combination of longitudinal survey data and administrative register data for 2,022 individuals who were between 12 and 20 years old when the data collection started. Results show that the criminal record is linked to both labor market and social exclusion later in life, but most systematically to (worse) labor market outcomes. Somewhat surprisingly, low SES seems to “buffer” against some of the unwanted outcomes linked to having a more serious criminal record, while high SES seems to “boost” others. Implications for future research on both deviance and stratification are discussed.