Analysis Of African-Adult Male Incarceration Rates

In the study conducted by Merlo and Wolpin (2015), the researchers sought out to understand how young adult males’ behaviors as well as family history are related to being incarcerated as adults, crime, arrests, and high school graduation. Furthermore, this study is attempting to address how and why different variables have a huge impact on young adult males’ lives and inevitably lead to prison at an astonishing rate. Merlo and Wolpin conducted this study to see how social factors and life decisions have become key elements in African-American male incarceration. Moreover, for their hypothesis, the researchers believe that lack of education and employment are the reasons why young adult males are more susceptible to committing crimes and entering …show more content…
Hjalmarsson (2008) states that youth that are arrested or incarcerated before they turn sixteen are less likely to receive their high school diploma and as a result commit more crimes which explains why incarceration rates are skyrocketing compared to arrest rates (Merlo & Wolpin, 2015, p. 235). In addition, Denise Gottfredson (1985) conducted a study over a two-year span and concluded that youth that live in urban neighborhoods and attend school while working are less likely to commit crimes (Merlo & Wolpin, 2015). As a result, delinquency rates did not rise, but remained fairly stagnant during the second year of the study. Gottfredson and Hjalmarsson believe that attending school and possessing a job are variables that have an impact on black males ranging from twelve to twenty-two years of …show more content…
They collected data from young, black males starting at age fourteen every year up until they graduate high school or until the young, black males turned twenty-two years old. The data collected yearly was used to compare African-American males’ criminal history regarding whether or not they completed high school or received a G.E.D. Merlo and Wolpin used the mixed-research method which consists of the quantitative and qualitative research methods. The researchers used surveys and the vector autoregression (VAR) to gather data for this study. The national longitudinal surveys were gathered until participants graduated from high school or turned twenty-two years old. The purpose of those surveys were to study the correlation of incarceration rates, education, and employment among African-American males over a ten-year period. Vector autoregression provided a complete report on how the attendance at school and job sites could decrease incarceration and arrests. According to Merlo and Wolpin (2015) young, black males that graduate high school are more likely to attend college and avoid incarceration. VAR was an essential element for this study because it allowed the researchers to collect data and showed them how different variables affect each participant’s outcome regarding incarceration and