Do Short Spells Matter? Conceptualizing and Testing the Effects of Brief Incarcerations on Labor Market Outcomes

Objectives Although most incarceration spells are brief, the collateral consequences of short spells are understudied. This study tested whether brief incarcerations predicted postrelease employment outcomes, and whether any apparent impacts of these spells were artifacts of the impacts of arrest or other confounds. Methods We used data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth—1997 cohort ( N = 8,842) and propensity score matching. Individuals who were incarcerated for two months or less or for more than two months were compared against similar never-incarcerated individuals and arrested but not incarcerated individuals. Results In bivariate analyses, arrest and incarceration were negatively associated with employment and work intensity. After matching, among all respondents, short spells were associated with employment outcomes only when all nonincarcerated persons were the reference group. Among respondents who were employed preincarceration, longer spells had stronger negative associations with employment outcomes than short spells, and short spells were not associated with most outcomes when arrested persons were the reference group. Conclusions Individuals who have experienced brief incarcerations may not be disadvantaged in the labor market because of their incarceration. The collateral consequences literature should be integrated with the literature on preexisting disadvantage and other forms of criminal justice contact.