Skip to main content

2006 - The Impact of Racially Inclusive Schooling on Adult Incarceration Rates Among U.S. Cohorts of African Americans and Whites Since 1930

Attribution: Lafree, Gary, & Arum, Richard
Researchers: Gary LafreeRichard Arum
University Affiliation: University of Maryland; New York University
Email: glafree@start.umd.edu
Research Question:
Test if more racially inclusive schools might reduce the risk of extremely negative adult life experiences such as incarceration.
Published: 1
Journal Name or Institutional Affiliation: Criminology
Journal Entry: Vol. 44, No. 1, pp. 73-104
Year: 2006
Findings:
  • Blacks who were in state public schools in which there were a higher proportion of White students have a much lower likelihood of ending up in other states’ jails and prisons as adults.
  • Blacks who migrated from states where they encountered more Whites in schools experience significantly lower incarceration rates.
  • The number of White students in school with the average Black has no effect on incarceration rates for White students.
  • Attending schools with a higher proportion of Whites reduces the chances that Blacks will end up in prison or jail as adults more through its direct effect than its indirect effect operating through high school graduation.
  • Incarceration rates increased substantially over time.
  • Incarceration rates were consistently higher for men and younger persons, there is a significant decline in incarceration rates for older persons.
Keywords: CrimeDesegregationLong Term OutcomesRegions: NationalMethodologies: QuantitativeResearch Designs: Secondary Survey DataAnalysis Methods: Logistic Regression Sampling Frame:Prisoners
Sampling Types: RandomAnalysis Units: IndividualData Types: Quantitative-Longitudinal
Data Description:
  • Logistic regression with state-level fixed effects for both birth and residence states to calculate incarceration rates for adults who no longer reside in their birth state.
  • Include data for migration that occurs between adjacent states and for migration within the region.
  • Three waves of micro-level data on state prisoners and local jail inmates from the 1970, 1980 and 1190 U.S. censuses.
  • Measure of racial inclusion: dividing African Americans into 5 year birth cohorts and then assigning the average % of White students in the typical school of a Black student at the time each student was on average 12 years old.
  • DV: Rates of incarceration
  • IV: Includes educational attainment
Theoretical Framework:
Relevance:
Archives: K-12 Integration, Desegregation, and Segregation Abstracts
Skip to toolbar