Adverse Childhood Experiences and Criminal Justice Contact in Adulthood

To assess the relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and formal criminal justice system processing during young adulthood and middle adulthood.

Data are from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N = 8531). Logistic regression, multinomial logistic regression, and Poisson regression models were used to assess the relationship between accumulating ACEs (0, 1, 2, 3, or 4 or more) and criminal justice system processing during young adulthood (24-32) and middle adulthood (33-43).

Accumulating ACEs -especially 4 or more ACEs- was significantly associated with various forms of criminal justice contact during young and middle adulthood, including having been arrested, experiencing a greater number of arrests, having been incarcerated in adulthood, having been incarcerated multiple times, and having spent longer periods of time incarcerated.

This study documents that the association between ACEs and formal criminal justice extends into young and middle adulthood. Considering the consequences of both ACEs and criminal justice system contact for a variety of life domains, the findings suggest the need for developing and employing early interventions to disrupt pathways to criminal justice system involvement.