Live Poster Session: Zoom Link
Abstract: The United States has the worst incarceration rate in comparison to the rest of the world. This initial step in the involvement of the criminal justice system is one that over ten million Americans encounter in a given year (Vera Institute). Researchers have found evidence indicating that looking into childhood to predict criminal behavior is a possibility (Kassing et al). Data for this study was drawn from ADD Health (both waves 1 and 5), making the study nationally representative of the American population. The amount of protective factors, specifically the care that a person feels from others in early childhood was found to be significantly associated with whether or not a person is arrested. To investigate the relationship of protective factors and arrest records with those who are religious, it was found that for every increase in religiosity, the probability of being arrested increases by a multiplicative factor of 1.6, although the results were not significant. In sum, protective factors are significantly associated with arrest while religiosity is not significantly associated.