Impact of Incarceration on Families

Paper Summary:

This paper reviews, discusses and analyzes the impact that incarceration has on a prisoner's family and community. According to the paper, the majority of the incarcerated population are men, most of whom are fathers with families. The paper takes a look at how the families of prison inmates are left behind to pick up the pieces.

From the Paper:

"Mass incarceration places a tremendous strain on the extended networks of friends and family that have traditionally sustained poor African American families in difficult times, thereby weakening the communities' ability to cope and survive economic and social hardships (Roberts 2004). Although loss of family contact may be seen by many as simply part of the offender's deserved punishment, there are damaging consequences to families, social networks, and communities. According to Roberts, the "injury to social networks is also a counterbalance to claims that removing criminals may benefit their relatives by relieving the families of problems caused by the offender's antisocial behavior" (Roberts 2004). However, the type of offender has changed due to the new sentencing reforms that impose harsh prison terms for relatively minor drug offense, thereby increasing incarceration of first-time, nonviolent offenders, who most likely have valuable ties to the community networks and institutions, which means that the loss to communities is greater today in terms of the quality as well as quantity of inmates (Roberts 2004)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Adalist-Estrin, Ann. (1995 December 01). Strengthening inmate-family relationships: programs that work. Corrections Today. Retrieved November 28 2006.
• Dallao, Mary. (1997 October 01). Coping with incarceration - from the other side of the bars. Corrections Today. Retrieved November 28 2006 from HighBeam Research Library.
• Dyer, Wm. Justin. (2005 September 22). Prison, fathers, and identity: a theory of how incarceration affects men's paternal identity. Fathering. Retrieved November 28 2006 from HighBeam Research Library.
• Hunt, Kasie. (2006 November 30). 7M in U.S. Jails, on Probation or ParoleAssociated Press. Retrieved November 30 2006 from: http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/11/30/D8LN7RNG0.html
• Lee, Arlene F. (2005 June 01). Children of inmates: what happens to these unintended victims? Corrections Today. Retrieved November 28 2006 from HighBeam Research Library.

More papers on Impact of Incarceration on Families:

• Research Proposal # 29133 : "Maternal Incarceration"
• Research Paper # 26414 : "Incarceration and African-American Men"
• Research Paper # 95969 : "War on Drugs"

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