Preview

Incarceration Effects on a Child

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2262 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Incarceration Effects on a Child
Running Head: INCARCERATION EFFECTS

Incarceration Effects on a Child

Abstract

When a parent becomes incarcerated inside a prison whether, the offenders are not the only ones affected. The impact of incarcerating a guardian affects the family on the outside. The children and the remaining guardian, if any, face severe consequences. Studies have shown that children whose parent(s) is incarcerated leads to many psychological, emotional and social disturbances. Imprisonment, incarceration for any length of time, is a life-interrupting event that damages society. Prison rates are raising therefore more and more families being subjected to the effects on incarceration. More and more correctional institutions are accepting family pleas for more family visitation programs.

Incarceration Effects on a Child

This world today has too many children growing up without mothers and fathers. Many of these parents are not deceased which makes one question where are these caregivers? These guardians are in a place, a place where no one individual wishes to be, called prison. The number of prison inmates is rising and with that comes a higher number of children to be raised without one parent for a certain amount of time. More than five million people inside the United States of America are under the supervision of the criminal justice system. Many of these individuals are in a state or federal prison. According to the research of Eddy and Reid (2002), “Of the 1,366,721 inmates held in state or Federal prison in 1999, over half (i.c 721,500) were parents. These parents had an estimated 1,498,800 children under the age of 18 years (Eddy and Reid, 2002 p.1). This number has risen dramatically since 1990; in 1990 the amount of children affected by the loss of a parent due to incarceration was nearing 500,000 children (Eddy and Reid, 2002 p.1). These children who were already subjected to crime by their parents are now five times more likely than the average child to

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Incarceration Effects

    • 858 Words
    • 4 Pages

    This initial physical separation due to incarceration introduces a host of distinctive stressors that not only can contribute to damaging the well-being of the mother but also damaging the relationship quality (Wildeman, Schnittker, Turney, 4). The incarceration of a partner causes particularly high distress and loneliness among inmates' wives or partners which can consequentially cause mental health problems among the wives or partners (Wildeman, Schnittker, Turney, 4). This partly is due to mothers increased struggle with managing their households in the father’s absence. Reports show that nearly 70% of fathers in prison contributed financially to their children and families prior to incarceration (Wildeman, Schnittker, Turney, 5). Once these fathers go to prison, the level of support that fathers can provide drops quickly resulting in fewer economic resources that negatively impact co-parents and children’s mental health (Wildeman, Schnittker, Turney, 4). Due to a partner’s incarceration, mothers experience a host of hardships both during and after their partner’s incarceration which helps explain the link between paternal incarceration and depression and life dissatisfaction among the mothers (Wildeman, Schnittker, Turney,…

    • 858 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Outpatient is part of community aftercare that includes offenders that have been released and plays a major role in decreasing recidivism and relapse (Roberts, 2008). The outpatient setting may offer clients anger management, domestic violence groups, substance abuse services, and follow-ups for sex offenders. In addition, the correctional facility goals are to prevent recidivism and relapse of offenders upon released. Moreover, in the correctional facility, offenders do not have the freedom as an outpatient. For example, it has to be decided to allow an offender in minimum security to attend a parent…

    • 475 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In her article “What About Us?”, Sylvia Harvey maintains that mass incarceration separates millions of kids from their parents. As the author herself puts it “Among the many collateral consequences of mass incarceration is its impact on children, and the number who are affected is staggering.” I’m of two minds about Harvey’s contention that extended family visitation should be reconsidered. On the one hand, Harvey gives some convincing evidence that without extended family visitation, the majority of black families specifically are torn apart.…

    • 277 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Haney, C. (2001, Dec.). The psychological impact of incarceration: implications for post-prison adjustment. From prison to home: the effect of incarceration and reentry on children, families, and communities. University of CA, Santa Cruz. Retrieved from…

    • 546 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The topic of this paper was lost under a lot of information and supporting grounds. The topic of how visitations helped of the mental stress of being incarcerated was only showcased near the end of the essay and the support ground of the barriers that imprisoned mothers and fathers must go…

    • 640 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Black Family Study Guide

    • 770 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Fatherhood… Prison removes the father from his functional role as a father leading to the destruction of family life.…

    • 770 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Prison Nursery management would like to invest in community-based alternatives, in order to permit the strengthening of mother/child bonding, and help the women to open up and deal with the problems that played a role in bringing them the criminal justice system originally. The program also seeks to recognize and monitor closely the development and changes that occur in the mother/infant attachment process and in the infant/toddler development during incarceration in a prison nursery and also during the years when the infant re-enters but is no longer with the mother. Assessments about which prison and community-based parenting programs should be created and tested are based on the type of attachment observed between the infant and his mother while in the prison nursery and maintained after the inmate is released back into society. From the decision made, the programs will not only improve the relationship of incarcerated women and their children while incarcerated, but also allow for a smooth transition following release. Another goal of prison nursery programs is ensure that that raising an infant in the prison nursery can prevent re-entry to prison after release or lead to short-range criminal recidivism of the…

    • 854 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Residential Parenting Program changes lives, “the recidivism rate is 12 percent compared to 40 percent for the general Washington Corrections Center for Women” (Quillen 1). The fact that most mothers stay out of prison creates much more stability for the child. It gives both the mother and child a chance to have a fresh start. Being a mother gives these inmates hope and purpose. Mother and child bonding is essential to the well-being for the development of the child. Children who lacked mother bonding often deal “grapple with depression, hyperactivity, aggression… and are more likely…

    • 431 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Mass Incarceration Theory

    • 2083 Words
    • 9 Pages

    “A Conceptual Framework for Understanding the Stigmatization of Children of Incarcerated Parents” by Susan Phillips and Trevor Gates, explains the how stigmatization affects the families of the incarcerated by instigating financial hardships and delinquent behavior. “Mass Incarceration, Family Complexity, and the Reproduction of Childhood Disadvantage” by B.L. Sykes and B. Pettit talks about the concept of multiple partner fertility as a form of family complexity, and how this outwardly affects the nuclear family decline. And “Young Adult Outcomes and the Life-Course Penalties of Parental Incarceration” by Daniel P. Mears and Sonja E. Siennick introduce the turning point theory and how it provides further explanation of the perpetuation of intergenerational incarceration. All of the articles address the subject of mass incarceration, and how it disproportionately affects families of color. These theories all support the idea that parental incarceration affects the decline of the nuclear family among minorities in the United States by creating current problems for the families involved with the system, and also perpetuating a cycle that is bound to affect future generations. The perpetuation of the cycle is what keeps the incarceration rates up and the nuclear family rates down over…

    • 2083 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Incarcerated Parents Essay

    • 1375 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Can you imagine a child being miles and miles away from their parents for days, weeks, months, or even years on end? A child in this circumstance is left wondering if their parent is safe and when they will see them again. Studies have shown that having an incarcerated parent can have negative effects on a child throughout their lifetime. Murray & Sekol wrote about numerous study results that included, “7,374 children with incarcerated parents and 37,325 comparison children …showed that parental incarceration is associated with higher risk for children's antisocial behavior, but not for mental health problems” (Murray & Sekol, 2012, p. 175). The population of incarcerated individuals in the United States is constantly climbing, so it is imperative that the child welfare system implements more proactive ways to encourage family connections between incarcerated individuals and their children. By examining evidence of the impact on children of incarcerated parents, I propose the best means of promoting healthy relationships and bringing awareness to the issue is by hosting a YouTube Live Campaign and promoting support groups.…

    • 1375 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Increased penalties and incarceration are the main solutions of crime prevention for advocates who believe that drugs should be prohibited. Two main reasons for this are its deterrent effects and social harm factors (Levitt, 1996, Weatherburn, 2014). Levitt (1996), at the height of rapidly increasing speeds of incarceration writes that increased prison population is a threat to deter people from engaging in criminal acts due to an increased threat of imprisonment. Also, incapacitation will be a benefit to society as criminals are unable to commit crimes while incarcerated (1996). His study argues that for each prisoner released as a result of prison overcrowding, it is associated with an increase of fifteen crimes per year (1996). Conversely,…

    • 336 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In particular, one study found that specifically children with incarcerated mothers compared to those without, are more likely to be convicted of a crime in adult hood (Schubert et al. 2016). In response to these factors there have been programs implemented in some prisons such as extended visiting programs in prison and programs that allow parenting while incarcerated. Programs that allow for mothering in prison aim to offer new alternatives for families who get split apart as a result of incarceration. This paper will utilize the article “Motherhood as Punishment: The Case of Parenting in Prison” as a way to analyze a fairly new program called Visions that promises to offer mothers in prison a way to be in their children’s life while their incarcerated, but instead becomes a social system that utilizes motherhood as a tool for…

    • 2585 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Parental Incarceration

    • 608 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Hairston (2012) posits that it is very common to find a child whose parents have been incarcerated experiencing a lot of problems in the society. According to recent studies, the children whose parents are incarcerated are a very vulnerable…

    • 608 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    According to a report done by the Ella Baker Center an organization that advocates for criminal justice and social reforms, the average family of an inmate occurs about $13,607 in debt for court-related causes. Of the family members responsible for these costs, 83 percent were women, women who are now forced into a single parent role and are expected to support the family with double parent income. Unjust mass incarceration affects not only directly but also indirectly. Mass incarceration only reinforces negative stereotypes about black men, such as that they are absent father, whereas their absence is caused by the same system that claims them to be absent. The incarceration also teaches women that the government can take better care of their children then they can even though it is due to them that the women have to depend on programs that help…

    • 456 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The population for women in prisons is increasing, since 1977 their population has gone up more than eight hundred percent. “In 2004 four percent of women in state prisons and three percent of women in federal prisons were pregnant at the time of admittance.” (Villanueva, 2009) As the rate of women inmates increase so will the number of women pregnant when incarcerated. A question that may be asked is “Where do these babies go when they are born if the mothers are in prison?” There are two ways this can be dealt with, one way is the child is separated from their mother at birth and the custody is given to a family member, a foster home, or something of that nature. Another way is the child stays in prison and lives with his or her mother there. The second option is called a prison-based nursery program. The purpose of this paper is to explore prison-based nursery programs and explain its success in the criminal justice system.…

    • 1436 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays