Criminal Justice Involvement and Well-Being in Old Age

Music City Center 

This paper uses data from the Criminal Justice Administrative Records Systems linked with survey and administrative data sources from the U.S. Census Bureau to provide the first evidence on the looming retirement crisis stemming from the aging generations of Americans who have been increasingly impacted by criminal justice policies like mass incarceration. First, we characterize the living circumstances of those with criminal histories approaching retirement. In spite of almost a decade of criminal desistance on average, this population exhibits serious economic vulnerability, higher disability rates, and greater detachment from kinship networks, factors that put these individuals at risk in retirement. Current data indicate a growing reliance on safety net programs such as the Supplemental Security Income program, for which eligibility does not depend on work history. Second, we measure the share of current retirees with criminal records, and provide projections of how these rates among retiring cohorts will increase through 2050. We find that approximately 13% of those age 62 in 2018 have a criminal record, and this will grow to 23% over the next two decades, peaking among cohorts retiring around 2040. Finally, we leverage two recent class action lawsuits that constrained the Social Security Administration's ability to deny SSI and OASDI benefits to those with criminal records. This analysis shows that extending safety benefits to the aging justice-involved populations has a number of important benefits: reducing poverty; decreasing disability and mortality rates; lowering usage of costly living arrangements like nursing homes, homeless shelters, and residential treatment facilities; and strengthening co-residency among families.

Criminal justice