Contact with the American criminal justice system is associated with socioeconomic disadvantage and financial insecurity, but little research has explored the link between criminal justice contact and indebtedness. In this study, we ask whether contact in young adulthood is associated with access to credit and unsecured debt burdens. We also focus on state-level policies that operate alongside official punishments and restrict citizenship and societal participation among the justice-involved (termed hidden sentences), and ask whether such policies moderate the association between criminal justice contact and indebtedness. We find that criminal justice contact, especially incarceration, is associated with reduced access to unsecured credit and greater absolute and relative debt burdens. These associations are strongest for individuals residing in states with more onerous hidden sentence regimes. We argue that indebtedness is a key socioeconomic consequence of criminal justice contact and that hidden sentences may exacerbate these consequences.

与美国刑事司法系统的接触与社会经济劣势和金融不安全相关，但是很少有研究探讨刑事司法接触与债务之间的联系。在这项研究中，我们询问成年后的接触是否与获得信贷和无抵押债务负担相关。我们还关注与官方惩罚并存的国家级政策，并限制涉及司法的公民身份和社会参与（称为隐刑），并询问此类政策是否缓和了刑事司法联系与债务之间的联系。我们发现，刑事司法接触，特别是监禁，与无担保信贷的获取减少以及绝对和相对债务负担增加有关。这些关联对于居住在具有更繁重的隐藏句子制度的州中的个人而言是最强的。我们认为，负债是刑事司法联系的关键社会经济后果，而隐蔽的刑罚可能会加剧这些后果。