The impact of first-time imprisonment on marriage and divorce:a matched samples comparison in a Dutch conviction cohort

Marriage has a prominent place in criminological theory and research as one institution that has the potential to genuinely foster desistance from a criminal career. Mass imprisonment policies in the United States and elsewhere, therefore, pose a potential threat of increased crime if they impede the ability of ex-prisoners to reintegrate into society by stigmatizing them and limiting their chances in the marriage market. We use a long-term study of a conviction cohort in The Netherlands to ascertain the effect that first-time imprisonment has on the likelihood of marriage and divorce. The res... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Apel, R.
Blokland, A.
Nieuwbeerta, P.
Schellen, M. van
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2010
Reihe/Periodikum: Apel , R , Blokland , A , Nieuwbeerta , P & Schellen , M V 2010 , ' The impact of first-time imprisonment on marriage and divorce : a matched samples comparison in a Dutch conviction cohort ' , Journal of Quantitative Criminology , vol. 26 , no. 2 , pp. 269-300 . https://doi.org/10.1007/s10940-009-9087-5
Schlagwörter: Risk set matching / Propensity score / Marriage and divorce / Incarceration
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-28619782
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://hdl.handle.net/11370/9eea5b8a-6505-4a64-9f7b-5738b7c63e16

Marriage has a prominent place in criminological theory and research as one institution that has the potential to genuinely foster desistance from a criminal career. Mass imprisonment policies in the United States and elsewhere, therefore, pose a potential threat of increased crime if they impede the ability of ex-prisoners to reintegrate into society by stigmatizing them and limiting their chances in the marriage market. We use a long-term study of a conviction cohort in The Netherlands to ascertain the effect that first-time imprisonment has on the likelihood of marriage and divorce. The results suggest that the effect of imprisonment on the likelihood of marriage (among unmarried offenders) is largely a selection artifact, although there is very weak evidence for a short-lived impact that does not persist past the first year post-release. This is interpreted as a residual incapacitation effect. On the other hand, the results strongly suggest that the experience of incarceration leads to a substantially higher divorce risk among offenders who are married when they enter prison.