...influence on the people around them and their actions. It is sad that at such a young age they might experience one or both of their parents going to jail or prison. One might think that the child is not affected by the removal of one or both parents from their lives as long as they still have someone to care for them but that is not true. Children with one or both parents in jail or prison are extremely affected emotionally, academically, and socially. Today prisons are overcrowded and over two million male and female Americans are in jail or prison. Two thirds of those people incarcerated are parents. Approximately two million children are separated from their mom or dad because of incarceration. These children suffer from poverty, inconsistency in caregivers, separation from siblings, reduced education, increased risk for substance abuse, alcoholism and incarceration themselves. Furthermore, in midyear 2007 it was estimated that 52% of state inmates and 63% of federal inmates reported having about 1,706,600 children under the age of 18. That number of children account for 2.3% of the U.S. resident population under 18 years of age. From 1991 to 2007 the number of parents in...
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...Maternal incarceration can impact children not only by when they get arrested but also by how long the mother and child spend apart due to incarceration as well as by how often the mother is getting arrested. If a mother is incarcerated during early developmental years in her child’s life for a brief time then the impact of her incarceration can be less damaging. Women, on average, spend less time incarcerated than men and get incarcerated less frequently than men (Wildeman 2007). Maternal incarceration is separated into two types of incarceration, jail, and prison. When a mother is sentenced to jail time it is usually less than a year sentence. While mothers that are sentenced to prison are looking at spending more than a year away from their...
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...million children with an incarcerated parent, and roughly one in eight children will experience having a parent imprisoned at some point in their childhood (Reckman and Rothstein). With numbers like this, it obvious that the amount of children being left without a parent is a problem in the U.S. The effects that parental incarceration have on a child can last a lifetime or cause consequences for the child that are difficult to escape. As children are the future of the U.S., studying the effects of the parental incarceration on children is extremely necessary. Having to adapt...
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...Once a child witnesses their parents arrest, it can be frightening and overwhelming for the child. All types of fear can arise. The child will need their emotional needs met immediately after the trauma, to prevent developing long-term behavioral problems (American Bar Association, 2017). When working with children whose parent(s) are incarcerated it is important to have several approaches to this population. Focusing on providing family-centered services, support groups, community events, policy changes, volunteer programs, or even interventions at school. Case managers must conduct realistic efforts to reunite the children back with their incarcerated parent, as for any reunification case unless court obligates so. Once a parent becomes incarcerated...
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...The United States of America has the highest incarceration rate in the world. America holds 5% of the world’s population, yet it houses 25% of the world’s prisoners (Walmsley 2013). The approximate amount of spending on our nations prisoners is 74 billion dollars, annually (Silver 2014). With the cost of rising incarceration in the U.S. and climbing recidivism rates, it is more apparent than ever that the American Prison Industrial Complex (“PIC”) is in great need of reform (Wagner 2014). The PIC enforces a recidivism cycle in which more than 50% of prisoners return to prison less than 3 years after release, thus being referred to by the PEW Research Center as “The Revolving Door of America’s Prisons” (2011). Not only is this cycle inflicting...
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...An attachment perspective on incarcerated parents and their children Cassidy, J., Poehlmann, J., & Shaver, P. (2010). An attachment perspective on incarcerated parents and their children. Attachment & Human Development, 12(4), 285-288. Children of incarcerated parents are considered an at-risk population. It is recorded that more than 3 million children are critically affected by having a parent who is incarcerated. The article finds that children are damaged by the interruption this incarceration plays in attachment relationships between the parent and child. The loss the child faces once a parent becomes incarcerated affects the security of the parent-child attachment therefore causing future risk factors. The attachment relationship theory is that mothers/parents who are accessible and receptive to their infant's needs found a sense of security in their children. The child knows that the caregiver is trustworthy, which generates a protected foundation for the child to then explore and discover. This article finds that failure to form secure attachments early in life can have a negative impact on behavior in later childhood and throughout the life. The children are burdened with risk factors in addition to attachment issues. Incarcerated parents seem to be causing several negative situations as the child develops. These risk factors include: * Poverty * Low class living arrangements/neighborhoods * Parental psychopathology/mental health issues * Drug...
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...Women Offenders in the United States By the end of 2007, there were more than 1.27 million women in prison or jail or on parole or probation in the United States. The most common crimes for women offenders are drug related or property crimes. Education, or the lack thereof, is a major component in the incarceration of women. There are various rehabilitation programs for female inmates re-entering society, in hopes for them to become productive members of society once again. Besides the fact that they are incarcerated, there are many different emotional, health related, and family issues that women offenders have to deal with. Over the past 3 decades, the female prison population has risen 832%.Whether the motivator is money, addiction, pressure, or for self, there is a growing trend in the United States involving women, crime, and prison, and the statistics surrounding them are not only growing but disturbing. The rate of incarceration varies by race. By mid 2008 Caucasian females lead in incarceration rates over African American, Latino, and Asian offenders. An issue that was once taboo, has now become the norm. The person who was once looked upon as the backbone of the family and the household is slowly disappearing and becoming a leading statistic in our criminal justice system. When discussing criminal behavior, it was usually only seen from the crimes men committed; women offenders were rarely discussed mainly because female criminal behavior has been commonly...
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...considered one of the most powerful and influential countries in the world boasts the highest “rehabilitation” rate in the world. The staggering part remains that not only do we have the highest prison population but our incarceration rate continues to grow as our creativity or desire to solve this problem continues to stagnate. One of the major issues when researching incarceration rates is the obvious elevated rate of young African-American males that are sentenced. While the percentage of African-American incarcerated males is extremely high the length of their sentences are shockingly elevated compared to the majority of population in the United States. “One in every nine African-American males aged 25-29 were in prison or jail in 2009, compared to one in twenty-seven Latino males and one in sixty white males in the same age group, according to the Sentencing Project”. ("State of Young America," 2009, para. 11) The question currently being dealt with in the United States is how do we accommodate all of these prisoners? Our countries answer has been quite simple, to build more prisons or as some would sugarcoat it, “rehabilitation facilities”. The correct question we should be asking is, why we have so many African-American prisoners, and why do they keep returning to prisons soon after release. These are supposed to be considered rehabilitation facilities? Exactly what is the goal for preparing these prisoners upon release? In looking for trends one would look no...
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...the infant’s life as much as possible. The prison nursery program is the ideal way for the mother’s rights to be protected. Position: It is important that parents be involved in their child’s life as much as possible. The prison nursery program makes this possible for mothers who give birth to their children while they are incarcerated. It is however no help to mother’s who have already given birth before being incarcerated. To combat...
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...The development of these girls is affected in many ways, three of which are stigmatization, poor academic performance and an antisocial lifestyle. Teenage girls whose mothers are imprisoned are stigmatized differently from others whose parents are not. These girls are prone to second-hand victimization as society often accuse them of following in their mother's footstep. These girls try to avoid being stigmatized by hiding their mothes incarceration. The incarceration of their mothers affects their academic performance as well. As soon as their mothers are imprisoned they receive low grades because it is difficult for them to concentrate in school, this leads to them dropping out of school. However, if these girls had support from others and live in a community that sensitize with them they would have turn out otherwise. The behaviour of these girls changes over time. They find it hard to visit their mothers which slowly breaks their bonds with their mothers. This leads to them...
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...government officials within each state. In this research I hope to find out those community corrections has more to offer than incarceration. In conclusion incarceration is not the right way but community corrections will be. Community Corrections or Incarceration Table of Contents Abstract Introduction Background on Community Corrections Background on Incarceration Effectives of Community Corrections Effectives of Incarceration Programs dealing with Community Corrections Programs while Incarcerated Theory Interview with Mr. Sharron Wilson Result Reference Page Community Corrections or Incarceration Introduction Community Corrections is a better solution than incarceration because it offers many different alternative programs for several different types of offenders. Incarceration also offers similar programs that will help offenders while incarcerated. In this research I found out that there are many different things concerning community corrections programs that lead up to incarceration. Community Corrections offers a normal life opposed to incarceration. Community Corrections still the individual time to seat and think of more ways of getting in trouble. Incarceration on the other hands is...
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...provided by the parent. In some cases, these disruptions can lead to insecure attachments to parents and caregivers, the child exhibiting antisocial behaviors and/or mental health issues, and engaging in criminal activity. However, none of these outcomes are guaranteed to occur, and factors or characteristics of the incarceration can change the severity with which the outcomes affect the child. Such factors include whether the parent...
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...By the end of 2007, there were more than 1.27 million women in prison or jail or on parole or probation in the United States. The most common crimes for women offenders are drug related or property crimes. Education, or the lack thereof, is a major component in the incarceration of women. There are various rehabilitation programs for female inmates re-entering society, in hopes for them to become productive members of society once again. Besides the fact that they are incarcerated, there are many different emotional, health related, and family issues that women offenders have to deal with. Over the past 3 decades, the female prison population has risen 832%.Whether the motivator is money, addiction, pressure, or for self, there is a growing trend in the United States involving women, crime, and prison, and the statistics surrounding them are not only growing but disturbing. The rate of incarceration varies by race. By mid 2008 Caucasian females lead in incarceration rates over African American, Latino, and Asian offenders. An issue that was once taboo, has now become the norm. The person who was once looked upon as the backbone of the family and the household is slowly disappearing and becoming a leading statistic in our criminal justice system. When discussing criminal behavior, it was usually only seen from the crimes men committed; women offenders were rarely discussed mainly because female criminal behavior has been commonly perceived as a less serious problem...
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...Incarceration on Children and Families By: Jessica Stamper The loss of a parent has an overwhelming impact on a child. When a parent dies or there is a divorce, there are endless opportunities to discuss the loss, but what happens when the absence is due to incarceration? Incarceration is not met with the same understanding and sympathy death and divorce are, making it harder to cope, creating additional and often more severe emotional and psychological effects on children. The topic is often considered taboo and this inability to communicate creates more anxiety for the child. They often feel alone, leaving them to suffer in silence. The loss of parents to prison can cause depression and trauma to a child. It compounds the existing environmental stress, such as the violent neighborhoods, poverty and a poor school system. The trend for the incarcerated differs with race, age, gender and economic status. In the same way, the effects on children range from emotional, behavioral and economic aspects. When a parent goes to prison, leaving behind their children, it creates devastating and often lasting effects on the family, as a whole. Equally affected, are the parent or guardian left to care for the children. It is a growing epidemic and with the constant rise of prison population, so does the numbers of families left to suffer the consequences. This paper investigates the effect of incarceration of a parent can have on a family and also takes a deeper look into the existing...
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...Imbalance of Minorities in Our Prison System Brady Jacobs ENG 122: English Composition II Prof. Jennifer Chagala December 1, 2014 American prisons are highly racially imbalanced in a country that incarcerates more of its population than any other nation in the world. I see this first hand in my career as a correctional officer at a state prison. I see the imbalance every day and it doesn’t fluctuate. There are several reasons for this imbalance. Poverty, disrespect of legal structure, lack of discipline, inadequate education, and drugs are the main causes of the disproportionate ratio of minority inmates. The NAACP has a broken down some solid statistics on this issue as well. Poverty is one of the many contributing factors to why people are imprisoned. Poverty becomes more prevalent with minorities who have been previously incarcerated. It also becomes increasingly difficult for them to find a job once they are released from prison. Today’s economy is already stacked against them and if they are unable to find employment it could lead to recidivism. When people get desperate they tend to do desperate things. Here is a simple scenario: a man cannot get jobs earning money righteously so he will find other ways to provide for his family. Most men who try to make a dishonest living are eventually caught and are consequently incarcerated. Examples could range from anything to writing bad checks all the way to armed robbery. This may lead to...
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