Wiesner 5
school without a high school degree increased the expected number of times being fired.
In contrast, the number of juvenile arrests was not a significant predictor, and analogous
analyses with onset of juvenile arrests as predictors revealed that age of onset was not a
significant predictor of the number of times been fired from a job either.
Conclusions
This longitudinal study examined prospective effects of involvement with the
criminal justice system, as indexed by official juvenile arrests, on two measures of labor
market outcomes for 203 at-risk young men. Findings showed detrimental effects of a
larger number of juvenile arrests on subsequent unemployment in the Twenties, adjusted
for various other risk factors. This result was more consistent with the conceptualization
offered by Sampson and Laub (1997) and suggests that the accumulation of negative
consequences and closed environmental options (or labeling effects) may be a key
mechanism linking juvenile arrests and young adult unemployment. In contrast, contact
with the criminal justice system (juvenile arrests) did not predict the number of times
being fired from a job. For this labor market outcome measure, propensity factors (as
represented by adolescent substance use, in particular) appeared to be more important.
The onset of criminal careers was not a salient factor for either work outcome measure.
Convention