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Associations Between Parole, Probation, Arrest, and Self-reported Suicide Attempts

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Abstract

This study estimated the associations between three categories of recent community criminal justice (CJ) involvement (arrest, parole, and probation) and suicide attempts, while accounting for how the categories overlap. Participants included adults aged ≥ 18 who completed the 2008–2014 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health. The outcome was self-reported suicide attempt(s) in the past 12 months (in the community or while incarcerated). Community CJ involvement included parole, probation, and/or arrest(s) during the past 12 months. Controls with no recent CJ involvement were matched to those with any recent involvement on demographics and education. We calculated the 12-month prevalence of suicide attempts for those reporting recent parole, probation, and arrest, including their overlaps. Logistic regression models estimated the associations between each category of recent CJ involvement and suicide attempts, controlling for their overlapping and covariates. There were 15,462 participants with recent community CJ involvement and 248,520 matched controls. The 12-month prevalence of suicide attempts was 3.2% for those with recent parole, 2.7% for probation, and 3.3% for arrest, which were all greater than the matched controls (1.0%, p < 0.001 for each). After controlling for overlapping and covariates, arrest was associated with suicide attempts (RR = 1.80, 99% CI 1.47–2.19), but neither parole (RR = 1.00, 99% CI 0.64–1.56) nor probation (RR = 0.81, 99% CI 0.61–1.08) were. Adults with recent arrest had higher risk of suicide attempts than those with parole, probation, or matched controls with no CJ involvement. Recent arrest may signify elevated risk and warrant increased screening and intervention.

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Data Availability

All data used in this research are publicly available from the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR).

Code Availability

The Stata code used to analyze the data is available from the corresponding author upon request.

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Funding

This research was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health [Grant Number T32 MH073553-11].

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Authors

Contributions

WCB contributed to the design and implementation of the research, the data analysis, and the manuscript preparation and editing. JP contributed to manuscript preparation and editing. ST contributed to the design of the research, manuscript preparation and editing, and development of the shaded Venn diagram.

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Correspondence to William C. Bryson.

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The authors report no conflicts of interest or competing interests.

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All data that we analyzed are publicly available and de-identified, and therefore did not constitute human subjects research according to the institutional review board at the University of Washington.

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Bryson, W.C., Piel, J. & Thielke, S. Associations Between Parole, Probation, Arrest, and Self-reported Suicide Attempts. Community Ment Health J 57, 727–735 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-020-00704-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-020-00704-6

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