The Effects Of Parental Incarceration On Children

“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 imprisonment disrupts the relationship between a parent and a child tremendously. In addition to the absence of nurturance, economic stresses are heightened which can cause the remaining family to become unstable. Because there has is not a lot of research dedicated to the wellbeing of children who have a parent incarcerated, it is vital that more attention be paid to the nations children. Our goal in this paper is to examine the impact of parental incarceration on children’s development and attachment style.

The challenges of children who grow up with parents whom were incarcerated at some point in their childhood can have a major effect on their life. The incarceration of parents can at times begin to affect the child even at birth. Now with prison nurseries the impregnated mother can keep her baby during her time in jail. With the loss of their parent the child can begin to develop behavioral problems with being obedient, temper tantrums, and the loss of simple social skills. Never learning to live in a society they are deprived of a normal social life. “The enormous increase incarceration led to a parallel, but far less documented, increase in the proportion of children who grew up with a parent incarcerated during their

Over the past forty years the increased of mass incarceration within the Federal Bureau of Prisons has increased more than 700 percent since the 1970’s, between the different type of ethnicity. Billions of dollars have spent to house offenders and to maintain their everyday life from rehabilitation programs, academic education, vocational training, substance abuse programs and medical care. The cost of incarceration climbs according to the level of security based on violent and non-violent crimes. Fewer staff is required in minimum and medium-security prisons that house low-level offenders. Incarceration is likely to serves as one indicator of other co-occurring risks and vulnerabilities that makes families particularly fragile. Mass incarceration is likely to increase if awareness is not implicated to reduce the rate of imprisonment and broken families to take back their communities and reclaim their hope for the future.

Since 1970 the rate of incarceration has more than tripled in the United States alone. In may urban cities such as Washington D.C., it has increased five fold. But statistics do not reveal what it is like for the children, wives, and parents of prisoners. It certainly does not show how the increasing numbers of inmates on the inside are having a profound effect on the outside--reaching deep into the family and community life of urban american families. Drawing on numerous powerful family structures supported by extensive empirical data, studies are shining a light on the darker side of a system that is failing the very people it is designed to protect.

When someone’s parent is put into prison, a new issue is added to the many that are already on that person’s plate. This is illustrated well when Goffman says, “we’re asking kids who live in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods, who have the least amount of family resources, who attend the country’s worst schools… were asking these kids to walk the thinnest possible line to basically never do anything wrong”(How we’re). The kids who are dealing with many issues are slowly being crushed by all the issues they go through with one being added each moment. They only do the things that they do to survive and the judicial system is not helping because it seems to target these kids. J. Mark Eddy, a licensed Psychologist, and Jean Mollenkamp Kjellstrand, from Columba University, states that “The incarceration of a parent is not often the start of the problems for a child and family, but rather a continuation… characterized by poverty, social disadvantage, unstable home life, substance abuse difficulties, mental health problems, abuse, trauma, and community violence” (552). This is just saying when kids are put through all these difficulties, they are more likely to fill that hurt with drugs, hurting someone or themselves, crimes, and even suicide. All these things can cause emotional trauma because it was already hard enough to live happy then now their parent went to jail and just made it even tougher. It just seems as if weights are slowly being added to them until they can’t resist to do something illegal. Neglecting the kids that have parents that are in prison will only cause them to replace their parents when the time comes. According to Richard J. Coley, the director of the Educational Testing Service Center for Research on Human Capital and Education, and Paul E. Barton, an education writer and consultant, children who have a parent who is

Mass incarceration not only takes a toll on adults but on children as well. Along with the men, women are also being incarcerated, in the last ten years the rates of women being put behind bars has increased. According to Court Services and Offender Supervision

Many young children are now being influenced by individuals that can physically and mentally harm their well-being. There are too many young children being seen through the incarceration systems solely because of the environment that they are raised in. In a study done by Elizbeth Barnert, “With 2 million youth arrested annually in the United States and 60,000 detained, justice-involved youth represent a large, high-risk, vulnerable population largely hidden from public view” (Barnet). This goes to show that the youth is not being taken care of responsibly or are not being placed into the right environment. Juvenile incarceration is detrimental to their physical and mental health, these children have been influenced in the past as well as incarceration

It might be difficult to understand how important your parents or even one of them can make a huge impact of how you would become as an adult. Right at this moment children all around the nation suffer from this problem, and statistics from the “Children And Families Of The Incarcerated Fact Sheet” demonstrate that it is much common from what we think. Demographics on this sheet show the difference between ethnicities and how much of this data is related to the

Children with parents who are incarcerated are at high risk for mental health issues, social behavior issues, and educational difficulties. Children that are born into the world with there mother in prison may not have as much problems as a child who may have witness the criminal act or acts that caused their parents to become incarcerated. When a child is old enough to be aware of the delinquent acts by their parents, they may start to see the act as a norm, causing the child to follow the path of delinquency. According to the Bureau of Justice, Half of parents in state prison reported that they had a family member who had been incarcerated (Glaze 7). With half of the parents having a relative who has been incarcerated, it leads to believe that children are subject to become incarcerated at some point in their life. With a majority of these women living in single-parent homes and in

Kids with imprisoned parents face a lot of societal problems related to behavior, financial needs, standards of living and stigmatization among others. The problems that the children face are enough to influence their future behavior and well-being. It is important to address the issues since the group of children is very special and vulnerable. Helping them will ensure that they grow up to become good and supportive citizens in their adulthood. Studies reveal that incarceration of parents has serious problems on children and the community as a whole. This particular study concentrated on the effects that the incarceration of parents will have on children. This topic is very important for researchers and society since it will help the society to solve the increasing problems that have been caused by delinquency behavior. Some children have been forced to get involved in criminal behavior due to lack of parents. Increasing the interactions and contacts between the parents and their children will help the society to reduce or minimize the issues. Succinctly, the increasing number of incarcerated parents in the United States of America and other countries around the world have serious effects on children.

A staggering 200,000 children in the UK, have a parent imprisoned each year. However, one of the most alarming issues is the impact incarceration has on the wellbeing of the child. Children of incarcerated parents are affected in many ways such as: underachieving at school, experiencing conduct and mental health issues, emotional difficulties and, most importantly, the likeliness of carrying on to offend. What can be done to help these innocent victims? How can we prevent this?

The United States leads the world in the incarceration of young people, there are over 100,000 youth placed in jail each year. Locking up youth has shown very little positive impact on reducing crime. Incarcerating youth have posed greater problems such as expenses, limited education, lack of employment, and effect on juveniles’ mental and physical well-being.

The 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 significant focus on the varying views regarding the impact of maternal and paternal incarceration. Research on the views of children on the issue, long term effects as well as health implications is considered.

The study by Lopers and Nichols was a longitudinal, study design using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, Child and Youth survey (NLSY 2010), which included women and their children. According to Lopers and Nichols, “Out of the sample, 585 met criteria for the household incarceration status, to be compared to 2,753 individuals who did not experience household incarceration” (p. 5). Furthermore, it was not possible to determine if the sample was consistent with national trends since statistics for this specific population are unavailable. However, the sample included a 6.7% incarceration rate which is consistent with other published studies. Out of this sample 39% reported parental incarceration, 31% reported sibling incarceration, and 18.6% reported other household member incarceration. Furthermore, 10.9% reported incarceration of several types of family members. Data was used from 11 waves of the

When looking at a juvenile delinquent and trying to decipher the root of their problems or the origin of their bad behavior, I think it’s significantly important to understand and analyze the environment in which the youth was raised. Sociologists have studied the relationship between parental incarceration and juvenile delinquency and have come to several conclusions discussed through scholarly articles as to why adolescents of incarcerated parents engage in delinquency. A wide variety of theories have been discussed in the various literature reviewed, but this review will focus on three main themes which emerged throughout the literature. These themes are: attachment, family structure and labeling or stigmatization.