Parental Incarceration

Talking Points from the SRCD Brief

• At present, the United States (U.S) incarcerates a greater share of its population than any other country in the world, with approximately 700 people incarcerated per every 100,000 in the population at any given time.
  • By their early thirties, Black men in the U.S. are approximately seven times as likely to have spent time in prison compared with their white peers, resulting in a greater impact on children of color.
  • Federal prisons account for roughly 10% of the incarcerated population, state prisons account for roughly 60%, and county/municipal jails account for the remaining 30%. 
• Across all developmental stages, children experiencing parental incarceration encounter greater levels of other types of family adversity that can impact well-being and development including parental divorce/separation, poverty, familial substance misuse, housing-related instability, and child welfare system involvement.
• Young children whose fathers are incarcerated have been found to exhibit more challenges related to attention, aggression, and externalizing behaviors.
  • Educational consequences may also emerge, including lower vocabulary and poorer school readiness among children whose fathers are incarcerated.
• Adolescents with incarcerated parents are also more likely to engage in more frequent and more serious risk-taking behavior, including those related to substance use, delinquency, early sexual behaviors, and suicidal ideation or attempts, compared to adolescents without incarcerated parents.
• In circumstances in which the incarceration of a parent is necessary, there are federal, state, and local policy options that can lessen the collateral impacts on children and families before, during, and after incarceration.