THE COLLATERAL CONSEQUENCES OF INCARCERATION REVISITED: A QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTS ON CAREGIVERS OF CHILDREN OF INCARCERATED PARENTS*

While policy makers have long extolled the benefits of incarceration, criminologists have expended considerable effort demonstrating the harmful collateral consequences of incarceration. Sampson (2011) recently challenged researchers to move beyond this dichotomy and to assess the “social ledger” of incarceration, where both the potential benefits and harms associated with incarceration are examined. To shed light on the variation in the collateral consequences of incarceration, we focus on the experiences of a valuable group of individuals directly impacted by imprisonment: those caring for children of incarcerated parents. Drawing from in‐depth interviews with a diverse group of caregivers (N= 100), we examine the various consequences (both positive and negative) that occur in their lives as a result of incarceration, as well as the causal processes responsible for the outcomes we observe. Our findings reveal marked variation in the effects of incarceration on caregivers. Such effects are shaped by (1) the prisoner's prior parental involvement, (2) the interpersonal relationship between caregiver and prisoner, and (3) the caregiver's family support system. These findings have important implications for future work conducted on the collateral consequences of incarceration for caregivers, children, and families.     

Plugging the Prisoner Finance Gap: A Critical Analysis of Financial Support for Newly-Released Prisoners

Abstract: The prison discharge grant is intended to meet prisoners' immediate needs on release and assist with living costs prior to their receiving their first benefit payment. It has been widely criticised for providing inadequate financial support, leaving prisoners with a gap in their finances on release. This article discusses the extent to which recent policy developments have been effective in closing this gap. The analysis is based on data from a longitudinal qualitative study of 40 prisoners who were tracked over a six-month period following their release from prison. This research shows that despite new policy initiatives the prisoner finance gap remains.     

The cost benefits of providing community-based correctional services: An evaluation of a statewide parole program in California

This was a cost-benefit study of a statewide program involving multiple community-based services for parolees in California. Program effectiveness was assessed by comparing program costs to incarceration costs avoided due to decreases in recidivism. During the first year following parole release, program participants on average stayed out of prison longer than the comparison population. Participants who completed any of the community-based services stayed out of prison substantially longer. The reductions in re-incarceration yielded a net saving of $21 million in incarceration costs over the study period, after the costs of the program and parole supervision were subtracted, or a 47 percent net return on each program dollar invested. This study did not include potential cost savings to other parties in the justice system. These findings suggest future investments in community-based correctional services might produce substantial financial benefits. A fuller apprehension of the potential benefits would benefit from continuing evaluations, including studies employing a true experimental design.     

Drug abuse, crime costs, and the economic benefits of treatment

Several studies have examined the social consequences and costs of criminal activity. The most popular approach for estimating the costs of crime focuses on easily measurable factors such as incarceration costs, victims' out-of-pocket expenses, medical costs, and lost earnings. However, the intangible losses incurred by victims of crime have rarely been considered. These losses include pain and suffering, as well as loss of the enjoyment of living. Based on recent developments by Cohen and colleagues, we adopt a more comprehensive method for estimating the dollar value of avoided criminal activity, taking into account these intangible losses. We demonstrate the feasibility of this method by estimating the pre- and posttreatment costs of criminal activity for a sample of 2420 drug abusers. The estimated crime-related costs incurred during the period prior to treatment admission and the period after treatment discharge are significantly higher when calculated using the proposed method compared to methods that only consider tangible costs. Furthermore, a simple benefit-cost comparison of criminal activity outcomes indicates that drug abuse treatment has the potential to return net benefits to society through crime reduction. Although the treatment outcomes are not based on an experimental design, this study presents quantitative evidence that including victims' intangible losses can substantially raise the estimated dollar benefits of avoided criminal activity due to drug abuse interventions.This paper was prepared while the authors were employed by Research Triangle Institute.     

“YOUTH IS ENMESHED IN A HIGHLY DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY SYSTEM”: EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP AMONG DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILIES,PARENTAL INCARCERATION,AND JUVENILE COURT DECISION MAKING*

Although prior work has substantiated the role of external attributes in juvenile court decision making, no study to date has examined how family situational factors as well as maternal and paternal incarceration affect juvenile court officials' responses to troubled youth. Using quantitative and qualitative juvenile court data from a large urban county in the southwest, this study draws on attribution theory to examine how family structure, perceptions of family dysfunction, and parental incarceration influence out‐of‐home placement decisions. Findings reveal that juvenile court officials' perceptions of good and bad families inform their decision making. This study emphasizes the need to unravel the intricate effects of maternal and paternal incarceration and officials' attributions about families and family structure on juvenile court decision making.     

Making economically sound confinement decisions: A response to the zedlewski thesis

This paper examines the economic costs and benefits of incarceration of criminals, elaborating upon and correcting flaws in Zedlewski’s 1987 claims that incarceration is a cost-minimizing crime prevention strategy. We use Bureau of Justice Statistics data to demonstrate gross errors in Zedlewski’s crude estimates. We find that the costs of incarceration are more than double the benefits in costs of crime avoided. We conclude that the cost-saving incapacitation effects of incarceration do not warrant either the current levels of imprisonment or any future increases.     

Prison visitation as human ‘right’ or earned ‘privilege’? The differing tales of England/Wales,and Scotland

Prison visitation has been widely recognised as an important feature of a just and humane prison system, providing important benefits for prisoners and their family in maintaining ties. However, emphasis on maintaining prisoner–family ties over the sentence has remained a low priority for the prison service in England and Wales, with prison visits ideologically framed as a ‘privilege’ rather than a ‘right’ for prisoners. This paper contrasts England and Wales with Scotland where a diverging approach to supporting visitation and family contact has been implemented. In Scotland, a strong focus on human rights as a justification for these policies has occurred, in tandem with more palatable historical context of penal welfarism. This paper assesses differences between the two governmental approaches to prison visitation, situated in discussion of some of the broader resettlement outcomes which may be garnered via these policy responses.     

Individual and contextual influences on delinquency: the role of the single-parent family

Research indicates that children are at risk for delinquency if they live in a single-parent family and if they live in areas with high levels of family disruption. Although there is a substantial amount of research on both the individual and aggregate relationships, examining delinquency at either of these two levels alone is not appropriate. Specifically, families do not exist in isolation as individual-level research inherently assumes, and aggregate research is concerned with explaining rates of delinquency as opposed to explaining influences on individual behavior. The current research used data from thirty-five schools, an important adolescent context, to determine the individual- and school-level effects of single-parent families on delinquency. The results from an overdispersed Poisson HLM regression model suggest both individual and aggregate effects, with a potential buffering effect of intact families regardless of any adolescents' specific family structure.     

Female inmates, family caregivers, and young children's adjustment: A research agenda and implications for corrections programming

Attendant to the exponential increase in rates of incarceration of mothers with young children in the United States, programming has been established to help mothers attend to parenting skills and other family concerns while incarcerated. Unfortunately, most programs overlook the important, ongoing relationship between incarcerated mothers and family members caring for their children—most often, the inmates' own mothers. Research reveals that children's behavior problems escalate when different co-caregivers fail to coordinate parenting efforts and interventions, work in opposition, or disparage or undermine one another. This article presents relevant research on co-caregiving and child adjustment, highlights major knowledge gaps in need of study to better understand incarcerated mothers and their families, and proposes that existing interventions with such mothers can be strengthened through targeting and cultivating functional coparenting alliances in families.     

Predicting Probationer Rates of Reincarceration Using Dynamic Factors from the Substance Abuse Questionnaire-Adult Probation III (SAQ-Adult Probation III)

Individuals incarcerated for violating the terms of their probation constitute a large portion of the prison population. Intervention programs designed to rehabilitate probationers have the potential to reduce prison populations and moderate the costs associated with incarceration. Unlike previous research, which has focused on demographic and static characteristics, the present study examined dynamic factors as predictors of probation revocation, as they may be more amenable to rehabilitation. The sample was comprised of 8,310 adult probationers and used scores from the SAQ-Adult Probation III. Poisson regression analyses showed that three dynamic factors, violence, antisocial behavior, and stress risk were positively related to the number of lifetime probation revocations. These results are discussed in light of potential rehabilitative benefits.     

It's a Family Affair

Abstract

In the United States, incarceration rates are increasing at an alarming rate. In particular, the incarceration of women is increasing. Oklahoma has the highest rate of female incarceration in the nation, and drug offenders comprise a significant proportion of these female inmates. Placing large numbers of women in prison may have serious implications not only for the women but also for their families, particularly their children. We surveyed 144 incarcerated female drug offenders in Oklahoma, 96 of whom reported dependent children living with them prior to incarceration. The data included the women's perceptions of the effect of their incarceration on their families as well as an examination of the potential for serious problems due to placement of the children. The study indicates that many children are placed with families that have a history of abuse, which suggests that failure to consider the implications of incarcerating large numbers of women likely contributes to serious abuse risks for their children.     

Urban and rural differences in the relationship between substance use and violence

This article examines the relationship between substance use and violence across rural-urban and Appalachian places of residence. The data come from a larger study on the health service use of 637 men who have a history of chronic substance abuse and who were incarcerated in four Kentucky prisons. The findings generally support previous research on substance use and violence but do not support Fischer's (1995) subculture theory of urbanism. Contrary to expectations, the population size of the prisoners' residence was not significantly associated with the prisoners' levels of violent victimization, violence toward others, violence toward intimate partners, or overall violence in the year prior to incarceration. Appalachian residency was also not associated with violence. Recognizing that the effect of substance use on violence perpetrated against others does not vary significantly by urban or rural residence may be helpful for designing violence prevention programs and planning law enforcement efforts.     

New policy on methadone maintenance treatment in prisons established in Alberta

The right of a prisoner to access methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) while incarcerated in a correctional institution has recently been raised and examined in the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench case of Milton Cardinal v The Director of the Edmonton Remand Centre and the Director of the Fort Saskatchewan Correctional Centre. This is a significant, precedent-setting case. For the first time, a Canadian court has ordered that a prisoner be provided with MMT during his or her period of incarceration. As a result of the case, and just before it was to proceed to trial, Alberta changed its policy and is now providing MMT to its provincial prisoners--at least when they had been receiving MMT prior to their incarceration.     

Progress or More of the Same? Electronic Monitoring and Parole in the Age of Mass Incarceration

Often billed as an “alternative to incarceration”, electronic monitoring (EM) is widely trumpeted as a key method of reducing incarceration costs while maintaining public safety. However, little research has been done which closely examines EM in the historical context of mass incarceration and the paradigm of punishment. This article focuses on the use of EM in parole in that broader context. Through research into the legal and policy frameworks for EM as well as via personal interviews with people who have been on EM while on parole, the author concludes that the present EM practice reinforces the dominant punishment paradigm and places major obstacles in the way of the successful re-entry for people returning from prison. He concludes with some concrete recommendations about changes in law, policy and implementation guidelines that would allow EM to operate in an environment more conducive to rehabilitation.     

System management and compensatory parenting: Educational involvement after maternal incarceration

Research has demonstrated that paternal incarceration is associated with lower levels of educational involvement among fathers and primary caregivers, but little is known regarding caregiver educational involvement when mothers have been incarcerated. In this study, we present the first analysis of variation in school- and home-based educational involvement by maternal incarceration history, pairing survey and interview data to connect macro-level group differences with micro-level narratives of mothers’ involvement in their children's education. Our survey data demonstrate that children of ever-incarcerated mothers experience increased school-based educational involvement by their primary caregivers, regardless of whether the caregiver is the mother herself. Our interview data point to compensatory parenting as a key motivating factor in educational involvement, wherein a caregiver endeavors to “make up for” the child's history of maternal incarceration. Findings add to the literature demonstrating maternal incarceration as a distinct experience from both paternal incarceration and material disadvantage alone, and they suggest the need to explore the role of schools as potential points of productive institutional involvement for mothers with an incarceration history.     

PRISONERS' FAMILIES A Study of Some Social and Psychological Effects of Incarceration on the Families of Negro Prisoners

This study examines the effects of imprisonment on the families of inmates. Likert scaling procedures were used to meaaire three components of change occurring in 93 families subsequent to the incarceration of the family head. These are: change in sociol acceptance, change in economic status, and change in the degree of sexual and emotional frustration of the wife. Findings indicate that finances and sexual-emotional frustrations underwent significant change and became problematic for a majority of families. Contrary to expectations, changes in social acceptance of the families were neither significant nor problematic except for a small minority.     

Prisoners’ Positive Illusions of Their Post-Release Success

Prisoners' forecasts of post-release success may have implications for how they respond to imprisonment, release, and parole decisions. We examined sentenced US and UK prisoners' forecasts of recidivism, and how well UK prisoners believed they would fare compared to the average other prisoner. In both samples, forecasts of recidivism were unrealistically optimistic when compared to official statistics on recidivism. UK prisoners also demonstrated a self-enhancement bias by forecasting that they were less likely to re-offend than other prisoners. Prisoners' forecasts of recidivism were predicted by only a few of the pre-prison, in-prison, and post-prison factors that have been shown to be associated with actual recidivism. We discuss the implications of these findings and propose avenues for future research.     

INCARCERATION AND POPULATION HEALTH IN WEALTHY DEMOCRACIES*

Everywhere you look, incarceration seems to be doing harm. Research has implicated incarceration not only in worse outcomes for individuals, their families, and their communities but also in growing inequality. Yet incarceration may not always harm society—even if it does harm those who experience it. To consider this possibility, I build an argument demonstrating how the macro‐level consequences of incarceration may be distinctively harmful in the United States, focusing on the incarceration–health relationship as one indicator of a broader phenomenon. I then test my hypothesis by using an unbalanced panel data set including 21 developed democracies (N = 414) and a series of ordinary least‐squares models predicting three measures of population health as a function of incarceration. Models including only a main effect of incarceration demonstrate an inverse association between changes in incarceration and changes in population health. Models including an incarceration by U.S. interaction, however, indicate that the population health consequences of changes in incarceration are far worse in the United States than elsewhere. Taken together, the results indicate that the United States is exceptional for both its rate of incarceration and its effects of incarceration, although it is unclear what drives this exceptionalism in effects.