Mass imprisonment and racial disparities in childhood behavioral problems
TL;DR: The results show that paternal incarceration exacerbates child behavioral and mental health problems and that large, growing racial disparities in the risk of imprisonment have contributed to significant racial differences in child well-being.
Abstract: Research Summary
This essay provides estimates of the influence of mass imprisonment on racial disparities in childhood well-being. To do so, we integrate results from three existing studies in a novel way. The first two studies use two contemporary, broadly representative data sets to estimate the effects of paternal incarceration on a range of child behavioral and mental health problems. The third study estimates changes in Black–White disparities in the risk of paternal imprisonment across the 1978 and 1990 American birth cohorts. Our research demonstrates the following:
1) The average effect of paternal incarceration on children is harmful, not helpful, and consistently in the direction of more mental health and behavioral problems.
2) The rapid increase in the use of imprisonment coupled with significant racial disparities in the likelihood of paternal (and maternal) imprisonment are linked to large racial disparities in childhood mental health and behavioral problems.
3) We find that mass imprisonment might have increased Black–White inequities in externalizing behaviors by 14–26% and in internalizing behaviors by 25–45%.
Policy Implications
Our results add to a growing research literature indicating that the costs associated with mass imprisonment extend far beyond well-documented impacts on current inmates. The legacy of mass incarceration will be continued and worsening racial disparities in childhood mental health and well-being, educational attainment, and occupational attainment. Moreover, the negative effects of mass imprisonment for childhood well-being are likely to remain, even if incarceration rates returned to pre-1970s levels. Our results show that paternal incarceration exacerbates child behavioral and mental health problems and that large, growing racial disparities in the risk of imprisonment have contributed to significant racial differences in child well-being. The policy implications of our work are as follows:
1) Estimates of the costs associated with the current scale of imprisonment are likely to be severely underestimated because they do not account for the significant indirect effects of mass incarceration for children, for families, and for other social institutions such as the educational system and social service providers.
2) Policies that reduce incarceration rates for nonviolent offenders with no history of domestic violence will most dramatically reduce the effects of mass incarceration on childhood racial inequality. More research is needed to detail other important factors (e.g., crime type, criminal history, or gender of parent) that condition the effect of paternal incarceration on children.
3) Paternal incarceration effects target the most disadvantaged and vulnerable of children and are likely to result in long-term behavioral health problems. We propose a strengthening of the social safety net—especially as it applies to the poorest children—and programs that address the complicated needs of children of incarcerated parents.
Citations
More filters
01 Jan 2014
TL;DR: Part of the courts, criminal law, criminal procedure, criminology, Law and Society Commons, Law Enforcement and Corrections Commons, Legislation Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, and the Race and Ethnicity Commons.
Abstract: How does access to this work benefit you? Let us know! Follow this and additional works at: http://academicworks.cuny.edu/jj_pubs Part of the Courts Commons, Criminal Law Commons, Criminal Procedure Commons, Criminology Commons, Judges Commons, Law and Politics Commons, Law and Society Commons, Law Enforcement and Corrections Commons, Legislation Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, and the Race and Ethnicity Commons
916 citations
TL;DR: The most rigorous studies showed that parental incarceration is associated with higher risk for children's antisocial behavior, but not for mental health problems, drug use, or poor educational performance, while the methodological quality of many studies was poor.
Abstract: Unprecedented numbers of children experience parental incarceration worldwide. Families and children of prisoners can experience multiple difficulties after parental incarceration, including traumatic separation, loneliness, stigma, confused explanations to children, unstable childcare arrangements, strained parenting, reduced income, and home, school, and neighborhood moves. Children of incarcerated parents often have multiple, stressful life events before parental incarceration. Theoretically, children with incarcerated parents may be at risk for a range of adverse behavioral outcomes. A systematic review was conducted to synthesize empirical evidence on associations between parental incarceration and children's later antisocial behavior, mental health problems, drug use, and educational performance. Results from 40 studies (including 7,374 children with incarcerated parents and 37,325 comparison children in 50 samples) were pooled in a meta-analysis. The most rigorous studies showed that parental incarceration is associated with higher risk for children's antisocial behavior, but not for mental health problems, drug use, or poor educational performance. Studies that controlled for parental criminality or children's antisocial behavior before parental incarceration had a pooled effect size of OR = 1.4 (p < .01), corresponding to about 10% increased risk for antisocial behavior among children with incarcerated parents, compared with peers. Effect sizes did not decrease with number of covariates controlled. However, the methodological quality of many studies was poor. More rigorous tests of the causal effects of parental incarceration are needed, using randomized designs and prospective longitudinal studies. Criminal justice reforms and national support systems might be needed to prevent harmful consequences of parental incarceration for children.
557 citations
TL;DR: The estimated effects of paternal incarceration are stronger than those of other forms of father absence, suggesting that children with incarcerated fathers may require specialized support from caretakers, teachers, and social service providers.
Abstract: High rates of incarceration among American men, coupled with high rates of fatherhood among men in prison, have motivated recent research on the effects of parental imprisonment on children's development. We use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine the relationship between paternal incarceration and developmental outcomes for approximately 3,000 urban children. We estimate cross-sectional and longitudinal regression models that control not only for fathers' basic demographic characteristics and a rich set of potential confounders, but also for several measures of pre-incarceration child development and family fixed effects. We find significant increases in aggressive behaviors and some evidence of increased attention problems among children whose fathers are incarcerated. The estimated effects of paternal incarceration are stronger than those of other forms of father absence, suggesting that children with incarcerated fathers may require specialized support from caretakers, teachers, and social service providers. The estimated effects are stronger for children who lived with their fathers prior to incarceration but are also significant for children of nonresident fathers, suggesting that incarceration places children at risk through family hardships including and beyond parent-child separation.
305 citations
Cites background or result from "Mass imprisonment and racial dispar..."
...The findings for internalizing problems run counter to those reported by Wakefield and Wildeman (2011), but the Wakefield and Wildeman discussion of internalizing problems is based on a sample that includes adolescents and young adults as well as children, while our findings are based on a sample…...
[...]
...This research, and that of Wakefield and Wildeman (2011), offers support for the argument that paternal incarceration increases children’s physical aggression....
[...]
...These findings are in line with prior research (Wakefield and Wildeman 2011; Wildeman 2010) and provide additional support for an effect of incarceration on child aggression....
[...]
TL;DR: The impact of incarceration on a range of individual outcomes, from chronic health conditions to mortality, and outcomes beyond the individual, including the health of family members and community health outcomes are considered.
Abstract: The expansion of the penal system has been one of the most dramatic trends in contemporary American society. A wealth of research has examined the impact of incarceration on a range of later life outcomes and has considered how the penal system has emerged as a mechanism of stratification and inequality in the United States. In this article, we review the literature from a comparatively new vein of this research: the impact of incarceration on health outcomes. We first consider the impact of incarceration on a range of individual outcomes, from chronic health conditions to mortality. We then consider outcomes beyond the individual, including the health of family members and community health outcomes. Next, we discuss mechanisms linking incarceration and health outcomes before closing with a consideration of limitations in the field and directions for future research.
293 citations
Cites background from "Mass imprisonment and racial dispar..."
...Because the risk of paternal incarceration is much higher for black children than for white children, Wakefield & Wildeman (2011, 2013) concluded that parental incarceration is an important contributor to racial disparities in childhood health and well-being....
[...]
...Mental health and/or behavioral problems are greater among children with parents who have been incarcerated (Murray et al. 2012, Wakefield & Wildeman 2011), and those children are more likely to experience the negative effects of some mental health treatment outcomes (Phillips et al. 2002)....
[...]
TL;DR: Manza and Uggen as discussed by the authors show empirically that former felons do not significantly threaten to corrupt or taint political systems, and that the denial of voting rights does not clearly serve some established purpose of punishment.
Abstract: Locked Out provides a substantial empirical basis for reasoned debate on the legitimacy of felon disfranchisement in an ostensibly democratic society. Accomplishing this requires surveying an impressive expanse of history and range of conceptual and empirical questions. Jeff Manza, Chris Uggen and their colleagues meet this challenge by skillfully tying together diverse strands of previous and ongoing research, presenting a sophisticated yet highly accessible study of the origins, dynamics and impact of felon disfranchisement in the context of American democracy. The authors place U.S. policies of disfranchisement in comparative international perspective, revealing its especially restrictive felon voting rights law and policy, particularly as ex-felon disfranchisement (the continued denial of voting rights to those who have completed sentences) is concerned. They compellingly demonstrate that U.S. felon disfranchisement policy originates in efforts to exclude black Americans from democratic participation. Disfranchisement is a criminal justice policy rooted it seems in what American race scholars describe as this nation’s design as a “White Democracy,” originating as a state-level counter-measure to the race-related democratic liberalism forced by federal civil rights protections in the post-emancipation period. As an artifact of historical intentions to limit democratic participation on the basis of race, disfranchisement is not a distortion of American Democracy, but a reflection of a normative, racially oppressive orientation. Disfranchisement policies are defended today on outwardly race-neutral grounds, typically in discourse about preserving the integrity of electoral politics, or their legitimacy as “just desserts” for those in violation of the law. Turning their attention to these contemporary debates, Manza and Uggen show empirically that former felons do not significantly threaten to corrupt or taint political systems, and that the denial of voting rights does not clearly serve some established purpose of punishment. They also show that voting rights restoration is not easily available to former felons, as some legislative advocates contend, and that disfranchisement policies in place today are not generally the Crime Law Soc Change (2007) 47:125–127 DOI 10.1007/s10611-007-9065-5
239 citations
References
More filters
TL;DR: The authors discusses the central role of propensity scores and balancing scores in the analysis of observational studies and shows that adjustment for the scalar propensity score is sufficient to remove bias due to all observed covariates.
Abstract: : The results of observational studies are often disputed because of nonrandom treatment assignment. For example, patients at greater risk may be overrepresented in some treatment group. This paper discusses the central role of propensity scores and balancing scores in the analysis of observational studies. The propensity score is the (estimated) conditional probability of assignment to a particular treatment given a vector of observed covariates. Both large and small sample theory show that adjustment for the scalar propensity score is sufficient to remove bias due to all observed covariates. Applications include: matched sampling on the univariate propensity score which is equal percent bias reducing under more general conditions than required for discriminant matching, multivariate adjustment by subclassification on balancing scores where the same subclasses are used to estimate treatment effects for all outcome variables and in all subpopulations, and visual representation of multivariate adjustment by a two-dimensional plot. (Author)
23,744 citations
TL;DR: It is suggested that delinquency conceals 2 distinct categories of individuals, each with a unique natural history and etiology: a small group engages in antisocial behavior of 1 sort or another at every life stage, whereas a larger group is antisocial only during adolescence.
Abstract: This chapter suggests that delinquency conceals two distinct categories of individuals, each with a unique natural history and etiology: A small group engages in antisocial behavior of one sort or another at every life stage, whereas a larger group is antisocial only during adolescence. According to the theory of life-course-persistent antisocial behavior, children's neuropsychological problems interact cumulatively with their criminogenic environments across development, culminating m a pathological personality. According to the theory of adolescence-limited antisocial behavior, a contemporary maturity gap encourages teens to mimic antisocial behavior in ways that are normative and adjustive. There are marked individual differences in the stability of antisocial behavior. The chapter reviews the mysterious relationship between age and antisocial behavior. Some youths who refrain from antisocial behavior may, for some reason, not sense the maturity gap and therefore lack the hypothesized motivation for experimenting with crime.
9,425 citations
"Mass imprisonment and racial dispar..." refers background in this paper
...Third, although they are strong predictors of crime and delinquency later in the life course (Moffitt, 1993; Nagin and Tremblay, 2001), mental health and behavioral problems also predict a variety of other outcomes, including 1....
[...]
6,864 citations
TL;DR: The authors give a short overview of some propensity score matching estimators suggested in the evaluation literature, and provide a set of Stata programs, which they illustrate using the Naïve Bayes algorithm.
Abstract: In this paper, we give a short overview of some propensity score matching estimators suggested in the evaluation literature, and we provide a set of Stata programs, which we illustrate using the Na...
2,687 citations