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Race and Social Problems

, Volume 8, Issue 1, pp 103–115 | Cite as

Race, Wealth and Incarceration: Results from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth

  • Khaing Zaw
  • Darrick Hamilton
  • William DarityJr.
Article
First Online:

Abstract

Using the 1979 cohort of the National Longitudinal Study of Youth to explore the interwoven links between race, wealth and incarceration, this study examines the data on race and wealth status before and after incarceration. Data indicate that although higher levels of wealth were associated with lower rates of incarceration, the likelihood of future incarceration still was higher for blacks at every level of wealth compared to the white likelihood, as well as the Hispanic likelihood, which fell below the white likelihood for some levels of wealth. Further, we find that racial wealth gaps existed among those who would be incarcerated in the future and also among the previously incarcerated.

Keywords

Race Wealth Net worth Incarceration Imprisonment National Longitudinal Survey of Youth NLSY79 
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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  • Khaing Zaw
    • 1
  • Darrick Hamilton
    • 2
    • 3
  • William DarityJr.
    • 4
  1. 1.Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social EquityDuke UniversityDurhamUSA
  2. 2.The Milano School of International Affairs, Management and Urban PolicyThe New SchoolNew YorkUSA
  3. 3.Department of Economics, The New School for Social ResearchThe New SchoolNew YorkUSA
  4. 4.Samuel DuBois Cook Professor Public Policy, African and African American Studies, and EconomicsDuke UniversityDurhamUSA

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