Serving time in prison during young adulthood is as common for Black men as college graduation is for White men

A four decades study links mass incarceration to higher death rates of Black people.

We go to the JAMA Network for a study completed over four decades on the mortality risks of U.S. incarceration and the impacts that it has on Black compared with non-Black populations.

Below are excerpts from the study.

Summary By: Natalie Mattson

The Study's Critical Points

During the era of mass incarceration of the last four decades, the incarcerated population in the US has quadrupled in size.
Serving time in prison during young adulthood is as common for Black men as college graduation is for White men.
Incarceration in adulthood was associated with lower life expectancy for Black people in the study but not for non-Black participants.
The major factors are unequal rates of exposure to incarceration unequal impacts of that incarceration on people
The findings of this study suggest that in the US, incarceration may contribute to a lower life expectancy for Black US residents.