Legal Commentary

New Report on Children of the Incarcerated

By Jeralyn

Via Sentencing Law and Policy, there is a new report on children of the incarcerated:

Fifty-three percent of the 1.5 million people held in U.S. prisons by 2007 were the parents of one or more minor children. This percentage translates into more than 1.7 million minor children with an incarcerated parent.

African American children are seven and Latino children two and half times more likely to have a parent in prison than white children. The estimated risk of parental imprisonment for white children by the age of 14 is one in 25, while for black children it is one in four by the same age.

The full report is here. [More...]

The consequences:

• Three times the odds that children will engage in antisocial or delinquent behavior (violence or drug abuse).
• Negative outcomes as children and adults (school failure and unemployment).
• Twice the odds of developing serious mental health problems.

Check out Stepping Stones and the Bill of Rights for Children of Incarcerated Parents:

1. I have the right to be kept safe and informed at the time of my parent's arrest.
2. I have the right to be heard when decisions are made about me.
3. I have the right to be considered when decisions are made about my parent.
4. I have the right to be well cared for in my parent's absence.
5. I have the right to speak with, see, and touch my parent.
6. I have the right to support as I struggle with my parent's incarceration.
7. I have the right not to be judged, blamed or labeled because my parent is incarcerated.
8. I have the right to a lifelong relationship with my parent.

More:

• Children of the Incarcerated Paying a Steep Price
• Children of the Incarcerated
  
• Children of the Incarcerated: All Alone

And a very moving article by Chesa Boudin, son of former Weatherground members Kathy Boudin and David Gilbert, In Prison Again, I am the Son of Inmate 83A6158, on what it was like to visit his parents in jail for 17 years.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on January 12, 2011 (boomark / email).