Evidence‐based programs for children of prisoners

TLDR: The study published in this issue by Phillips et al. (2006) shows that parental imprisonment is associated with family economic strain, and instability in children’s care and living arrangements, even after controlling for parental substance abuse, parental mental health problems, and low education.

Abstract: With fast growing prison populations around the world, children are increasingly exposed to parental imprisonment. In the United States, the population of children under 18 with an imprisoned parent grew from 0.9 million in 1991 to 1.5 million in 1999 (Mumola, 2000). In England and Wales, approximately 125,000 children experience parental imprisonment each year, compared with about 170,000 children who experience parental divorce (Murray, 2006). Many researchers have suggested that parental imprisonment might harm children, but there have been few high-quality studies of these effects. Accordingly, the effects of parental imprisonment on children “may be the least understood and most consequential implication of the high reliance on incarceration” (Hagan and Dinovitzer, 1999:122). The study published in this issue by Phillips et al. (2006) shows that parental imprisonment is associated with family economic strain, and instability in children’s care and living arrangements, even after controlling for parental substance abuse, parental mental health problems, and low education. Their analyses are based on the Great Smoky Mountains Study (a longitudinal survey of over 1,400 children in North Carolina), which is an extremely important and impressive prospective longitudinal survey of the development of antisocial behavior in children. The main policy issue raised by their study is that imprisoning parents may harm children’s family environments and contribute to children’s adverse outcomes through the life-course. Given the likely harms of parental imprisonment, intervention programs are needed to prevent adverse outcomes for children of prisoners. However, without a sound scientific basis, even well-intentioned interventions can be ineffective, and they may sometimes even cause harm (McCord, 2003). Support programs for children of prisoners have rarely been well evaluated, using randomized controlled trials. Therefore, little is known about their effectiveness. Pending further evidence, policies should be developed based on the best knowledge about the causes of adverse outcomes for children of prisoners. Depending on what causes these