Incarceration, a topic of controversy, has received much attention in both academic and political arenas. Policy changes in recent years have influenced incarceration rates and, in turn, affected families and children in the U.S. (Hagan & Coleman, 2001; Visher & Travis, 2003; “Pew Charitable Trusts”, 2010; Arditti, Lamburt-Shute, & Joest, 2003). Policies, such as “tough on crime” and “war on drugs”, have contributed to not only a steady rise in incarceration rates and over crowding of correctional
A Literature Review: The Effects on Children After Parental Incarceration Prisons have been around for centuries and in many countries the prison population has grown quickly. The prisoners’ health, behavior and well-being have been focal points in many social concerns, however; incarceration goes beyond the prisoners’ experience. It touches employment after incarceration, social stigma, and families and communities that have been affected by incarceration, especially a child with incarcerated parents
growing numbers of the prison population are accompanied by an equally large number of children with incarcerated parents. The relevance of this topic is particularly pronounced remembering that the needs of children are not considered in the issue of judicial hearings. According to Nesmith and Ruhland (2008) , the primary consequences related to the relationship between parent incarceration and adverse outcomes in children are born from the loss of contact. The research explored in this writing illustrates
The Impact Parental Incarceration on Children’s Development and Attachment Style “The greatest threat to a child’s well-being in the United States is parental incarceration” –The Sentencing Project. A 500% increase has made “The land of the Free” the top country in the world for housing inmates in its “correctional” facilities, with more than 2.2 million currently incarcerated (BJS, 2011). Excusing one’s views on the appropriateness of the justice system and incarceration, it is evident that parental
According to a study by The Pew, more than 2.7 million children have an incarcerated parent. The following consequences are often underestimated and undetectable. Incarcerated parents are extremely detrimental to the well-being of the children involved. Minors involved with the arrest of their parents often suffer more complications than someone without an incarcerated parent. Foremost, these minors are more likely to have attention problems like Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or Attention Deficit
seen a dramatic upswing in incarceration rates (Glaze & Maruschak, 2008, p. 1). “The United States’ increasingly punitive sentencing philosophy has resulted in an overreliance on incarceration, resulting in an incarcerated population that has soared from approximately 340,000 in the early 1970s to nearly 2.3 million today” (Raeder, 2012). “Parents held in the nation’s prisons—52% of state inmates and 63% of federal inmates—reported having an estimated 1,706,600 minor children, accounting for 2.3% of
overlooked due to the increased mass incarceration is the growing rate of parental incarceration. This issue has not been looked into immensely; however, researchers have
• Stigma: As it’s stated above, when children have mutually responsive and dependable relationship with their first caregiver, a secure attachment style develops (Sroufe, 2003). This makes the children believe that their primary caretaker (parent) will always be available for them to meet their needs. Bowlby stated that a child who has experienced a secure attachment is however, likely to develop a representational model of attached figure that will be available, helpful and responsive to them (Bowlby
The relationship between family members’ incarceration, other than grandmothers, and criminality in a male youth resulted in a greater probability of a boy’s arrest (Nichols & Loper, 2012). The negative effects of incarceration extend beyond the influence of a household member’s incarceration on development can be understood best from a developmental bio ecological model and influenced by proximal interactions within immediate circumstances such as the home, which originally was referred to as the
Innocent Victims: The Effects on Children of the Incarcerated In the U.S., our criminal justice system incarcerates more people than any other country on earth. Incarceration rates have skyrocketed over the past 30 years due to stricter laws and harsher penalties for drug use and possession. As a result of these high incarceration rates, many households and society, in general, has been adversely affected by the absence of men and women from their families and from their communities. While being