Corrections_Today_Summer_2024_Vol.86_No.2

CORRECTIONAL CHAPLAIN PERSPECTIVES

two-year decline in life expectancy for each year served in prison. 7 The damaging effects are disproportion ately experienced by marginalized communities. ACEs can have a cumulative ef fect that interplay with one another to compound risk. For example, a young person who is raised in a household with a parent who strug gles with substance use, a known ACE, is more likely to miss school days, having to take care of the par ent and/or other siblings, and is less likely to do well in school. Poor per formance in school is also regarded as a social determinant of health, as it is linked to a negative impact on income and other determinants of health (such as housing). 8 Poor school performance can lead to less income and lesser ability to afford housing and transportation, with resulting adverse consequences on health outcomes. Likewise, aca demic success is often an excellent indicator for the overall well-being of youth and a determinant of adult health outcomes. Thus, the adverse experiences that a young person has, like the one exemplified, may have devastating consequences on their health. The relationship between ACEs and incarceration There also exists an undeniable relationship between ACEs and contact with the carceral system. 9-12 Research has demonstrated that youth involved in the carceral system report higher rates of ACEs than peers, and ACEs increase the likelihood of criminal behavior throughout the life course. 13-14 The

relationship between ACEs and carceral system involvement is exacerbated by factors like being unhoused and accumulation of ACEs over time. 15-16 In fact, there even may be an intergenerational aspect to ACEs. Intergenerational Transmis sion. According to article author Elizabeth Barnert and team at the University of California, Los Angeles, parents’ ACE exposure is associated with their children’s involvement in the criminal legal system across the carceral con tinuum. In fact, higher parental ACEs are associated with greater odds of their children’s arrest and conviction in the U.S. criminal legal system. Barnert and team conclude that multigenerational approaches to addressing and preventing ACEs may disrupt the intergenerational pathways to involvement in the criminal legal system. 17 ACEs, incarceration, and emerging adulthood The challenges that arise from the complex interplay among ACEs, incarceration, and health outcomes are especially difficult for transi tion age youth, or people ages 18-24. The age range between 18-24 years represents the transition to adult hood, which has critical implications for economic security, health, and well-being. 18-20 Transition age youth not only grapple with changing neurobiology that results from their maturation process, but also face the tasks of establishing autonomy, developing deep relationships out side of the family, and setting goals related to education and career.

These challenges are made more difficult by the experiences of ACEs and incarceration, in particular, during reentry, or the six-month transition period from jail back to the community. Barnert and team conclude that multigenerational approaches to addressing and preventing ACEs may disrupt the intergenerational pathways to involvement in the criminal legal system. In a nation with the highest incarceration rates in the world, transition age youth make up a sig nificant proportion of recidivism in the United States. 21 While reentry is marked by numerous challenges — such as increased risk of mortality in the first two weeks after release 6 — reentry is even further complicat ed by the developmental challenges of emerging adulthood. 18-20,22 Tran sition age youth thus face unique challenges during reentry, which is a crucial window of opportunity to help young adults launch into adulthood. Promising interventions In order to begin addressing the ways we can support people who Reentry

Summer 2024 | Corrections Today

9