THE IMPLICATIONS OF ARREST FOR COLLEGE ENROLLMENT: AN ANALYSIS OF LONG‐TERM EFFECTS AND MEDIATING MECHANISMS*

• Published date: 01 November 2016
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9125.12114
• Author: CARTER HAY,ALEX O. WIDDOWSON,SONJA E. SIENNICK
• Date: 01 November 2016

THE IMPLICATIONS OF ARREST FOR COLLEGE

ENROLLMENT: AN ANALYSIS OF LONG-TERM

EFFECTS AND MEDIATING MECHANISMS∗

ALEX O. WIDDOWSON, SONJA E. SIENNICK, and CARTER HAY

College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Florida State University

KEYWORDS: arrest, college enrollment, academic performance, collateral conse-

quences, life course

This study draws on labeling theory and education research on the steps to college

enrollment to examine 1) whether and for how long arrest reduces the likelihood that

high-school graduates will enroll in postsecondary education and 2) whether any ob-

served relationships are mediated by key steps in the college enrollment process. With

17 years of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97) and

propensity score matching, we derived matched samples of arrested and nonarrested

but equivalent youth (N=1,761) and conducted logistic regression and survival anal-

yses among the matched samples to examine the short- and long-term postsecondary

consequences of arrest. The results revealed that arrest reduced the odds of 4-year

college enrollment directly after high school, as well as that high-school grade point

average and advanced coursework accounted for 58 percent of this relationship. The

results also revealed that arrest had an enduring impact on 4-year college attendance

that extended into and beyond emerging adulthood. Two-year college prospects were

largely unaffected by arrest. These findings imply that being arrested during high

school represents a negative turning point in youths’ educational trajectory that is,

in part, a result of having a less competitive college application. Implications are

discussed.

Empirical work has confirmed the substantial life-course benefits of a college educa-

tion. It increases lifetime employment and earnings (Card, 1999; Hout, 2012) but also

contributes to noneconomic benefits such as marital stability, community ties, and health

and longevity (Arnett, 2004; Baum, Ma, and Payea, 2013; Hout, 2012; Kingston et al.,

2003). Despite these benefits, and despite the fact that most high-school seniors expect

to attend college (Berkner and Chavez, 1997), only 60 percent of high-school graduates

enroll in college in the semester after high school, and only 70 percent enroll within

∗Additional supporting information can be found in the listing for this article in the Wiley Online

Library at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/crim.2016.54.issue-4/issuetoc.

An earlier draft of this article was presented at the 2013 American Society of Criminology meeting

in Atlanta, GA. We thank editor Rosemary Gartner and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful

and insightful comments.

Direct correspondence to Alex O. Widdowson, College of Criminology and Criminal Justice,

Florida State University, 112 S. Copeland Street, Tallahassee, FL 32306 (e-mail: aw10n@my.fsu.

edu).

C2016 American Society of Criminology doi: 10.1111/1745-9125.12114

CRIMINOLOGY Volume 54 Number 4 621–652 2016 621

622 WIDDOWSON, SIENNICK & HAY

2 years of graduation (Bozick and Lauff, 2007). Although some individuals will enroll in

later stages of life, a notable gap in college enrollment persists—at any given point, many

U.S. high-school graduates are bypassing or delaying college despite all evidence of its

importance (Berkner and Chavez, 1997; Bozick and Lauff, 2007).

These patterns have inspired research on the factors that disrupt educational tra-

jectories, including contact with the criminal justice system, which is consistently

linked with high-school dropout (e.g., Bernburg and Krohn, 2003; Hirschfield, 2009;

Hjalmarsson, 2008; Kirk and Sampson, 2013; Sweeten, 2006; Tanner, Davies, and

O’Grady, 1999). These findings on dropout are anticipated by a life-course labeling

perspective (Bernburg and Krohn, 2003; Sampson and Laub, 1997), which argues that the

stigma of a criminal record triggers exclusionary reactions at school and corresponding

individual adaptations that undermine academic success. It bears emphasizing, however,

that a primary focus on high-school dropout neglects an interesting student subgroup:

Those who were arrested but were nevertheless able to graduate from high school.

This group is by no means trivial—more than 10 percent of U.S. students manage

to graduate from high school despite having been arrested (Hjalmarsson, 2008). It

thus is important to examine potential educational consequences of arrest that extend

beyond high school. Yet just two studies to date have examined the effects of arrest

on college enrollment (Kirk and Sampson, 2013; Makarios, Cullen, and Piquero, 2015).

Although both supported the possibility that arrest impedes postsecondary enroll-

ment in early adulthood, the evidence on this relationship is far from complete. As

we will elaborate on in this article, almost nothing is known about why high-school

arrests might affect college enrollment. Also, research has yet to explore whether

arrest reduces not just the immediate but also the long-term probability of college

enrollment.

We suggest that arrest impedes the advancement to college by undermining high-

school performance even when it does not prevent high-school graduation. Arrested

youths’ high-school transcripts may be marked by poor academic performance, disci-

plinary infractions, and low curricular involvement, all of which are taken into account

in 4-year college admissions (Klasik, 2012; Lipka, 2010). In addition, we suggest that

under a life-course labeling perspective, arrested youth who do not enroll in 4-year

colleges will be unlikely to compensate for this by using common alternative pathways

to postsecondary education, such as delayed college enrollment and enrollment in less

competitive 2-year colleges.

This study makes two key contributions. First, in addition to replicating findings linking

arrest with college enrollment in early adulthood, we examine how differences in college

enrollment between arrested and nonarrested youth vary over a 10-year stretch after

high school—when most youth in our sample reach 27–28 years of age. This approach

follows from our theoretical perspective, which emphasizes the need for long-term exam-

inations of the disadvantages of criminal justice labels. Second, we examine intervening

mechanisms that may explain any arrest-linked gaps in 4-year college enrollment. Our

potential mediators—grade point average (GPA), completion of advanced coursework,

performance on college entrance exams, and experiences with school suspension—are

derived from educational research on the steps to college enrollment and accord with a

life-course labeling focus on exclusionary social processes that may stop students from

taking those steps.

ARREST AND COLLEGE ENROLLMENT 623

BACKGROUND

STEPS TO COLLEGE ENROLLMENT

The path to college is difficult and complex. Education researchers have long concep-

tualized college enrollment as the outcome of a three-stage process that begins with the

development of aspirations to attend college, followed by a college search and application

stage, and concluding with the choice of a college to attend (Hossler and Gallagher, 1987).

Embedded in this three-stage process are complex steps that students must complete

to enroll successfully (Avery and Kane, 2004; Klasik, 2012). Certain steps are especially

critical. Specifically, few students enroll in a 4-year college without graduating high

school, having a GPA sufficient for admission, taking required coursework, registering

for and taking a college entrance exam, and filling out and submitting college applications

(Avery and Kane, 2004; Belasco, 2013; Berkner and Chavez, 1997; Cabrera and La Nasa,

2001; Klasik, 2012; Plank and Jordan, 2001). These steps are such important prerequisites

that Klasik (2012: 542) concluded that “a student’s decision to complete any one of these

steps [is] tantamount to deciding whether he or she would enroll in college [or not].”

The completion of these steps is important to postsecondary enrollment because they

are used by 4-year colleges to make admissions decisions and award merit-based financial

aid. Four-year colleges have minimum academic entrance requirements, and failure

to meet these benchmarks often renders students ineligible for admissions (Berkner

and Chavez, 1997; Caberra and La Nasa, 2001). Furthermore, simply satisfying these

prerequisites does not guarantee admissions. At more selective institutions, students may

need to greatly exceed the minimum criteria to have a competitive application, especially

if they seek scholarships and other forms of financial aid (Berkner and Chavez, 1997).

Admitted students without financial aid may become overwhelmed by the large “sticker

price” of a college education and fail to enroll (Roderick, Coca, and Nagaoka, 2011).

Moreover, at any point during the application process, students who discover that they

lack the prerequisites may become discouraged and fail to submit applications (Avery

and Kane, 2004; Klasik, 2012; Roderick, Coca, and Nagaoka, 2011).

Although admission decisions at 4-year colleges are based primarily on one’s academic

record, other factors are considered. Recently, colleges have been requiring students

to disclose information about their discipline history and criminal record (Center for

Community Alternatives, 2010; Lipka, 2010; Pierce, Runyan, and Bangdiwala, 2014).

In 2006, the Common Application, which is a standardized undergraduate application

form that is accepted by more than 500 colleges and universities in the United States,

began collecting information on whether applicants had ever been suspended, expelled,

or adjudicated guilty of a misdemeanor or felony (Lipka, 2010). Although it is unclear

to what degree colleges consider applicants’ disciplinary history, estimates from a recent

survey suggest that more than 60 percent of postsecondary institutions consider appli-

cants’ criminal history information and that 35 percent of institutions reported denying

admissions to students with a criminal record (Pierce, Runyan, and Bangdiwala, 2014).

Although failing to complete the steps to enrollment prevents most students from

attending a 4-year college directly after high school, it may not completely derail their

postsecondary prospects. First, for many underperforming students, community (or

2-year) colleges provide a second chance to access higher education. Compared with

4-year colleges—which require a minimum GPA, a college entrance exam score, and