In May, the Osborne Association, an organization whose mission is reform, rehabilitation, and promoting alternatives to incarceration, issued a report on children of incarcerated parents. The report, A Call to Action: Safeguarding New York’s Children of Incarcerated Parents, includes national statistics, and statistics specific to New York state. The following national statistics, taken from the report, offer a startling glimpse of the high number of incarcerated parents in America.
54% percent of incarcerated men and women are
parents with minor children (ages 0-17), including
more than 120,000 mothers and 1.1 million
fathers
More than 2.7 million children in the United States
have a parent who is incarcerated—1 in every 28
children (more than 3.6%) have an incarcerated
parent, compared to one in 125 just 25 years ago. Two-thirds
of these children’s parents were incarcerated
for non-violent offenses
One in 9 African American children (11.4%), one in 28
Hispanic children (3.5%), and one in 57 white children
(1.8%) in the United States have an incarcerated
parent
4% of women in state prison, 3% of women in
federal prison, and about 5% of women in jail
nationwide reported being pregnant at the time of
their incarceration
In 2004, approximately 59% of parents in a state
correctional facility and 45% of parents in a federal
correctional facility reported never having had a
personal visit from their children
Under its “What We Don‘t Know“ section,A Call to Action indicates that the exact number of children who have a parent involved in the criminal justice system is unknown because parents are reluctant to provide accurate information, fearing loss of custody of their children. The report states that most Americans do not realize the negative effects seeing a parent arrested has on a child. A 1998 study of arrested parents found:
67% were handcuffed in front of their children
27% reported weapons drawn in front of their children
4.3% reported a physical struggle, and 3.2% reported the
use of pepper spray
The report goes on to claim, “According to a 2010 study
examining the relationship between witnessing arrests and elevated symptoms of post traumatic stress, children who witnessed the arrest of someone in their household and had a recently arrested parent
were 73% more likely to have elevated post traumatic stress symptoms than children who did not have an arrested parent and had never witnessed an arrest. Witnessing an arrest or learning that a parent has been arrested can cause anxiety, confusion, anger, sadness, and myriad other emotions in children. Most children do not talk about this experience.”
The Osborne report disagrees that children of incarcerated parents are more likely to commit to commit crimes themselves. The report points out that most parents of incarcerated children have other issues going on that might negatively impact their children, and might contribute to a child committing a crime.
The Osborne report on children of incarcerated parents makes several recommendations to help children who are, through no fault of their own, caught up in the criminal justice system . Some of the recommendations include:
All agencies authorized to make arrests (including police,
probation, corrections, parole, and immigration) should adopt and implement child-sensitive arrest protocols designed to minimize child trauma and unnecessary out-of-home placements of children.
Training for law enforcement agencies should include
information about the impact of parental arrest on children, the benefits of child-sensitive arrest practices, and the proper use of relevant protocols.
Law enforcement agencies should provide information to arrested individuals about planning for care of children at and after the time of arrest—whether the person under
arrest requests information or not.
Law enforcement and agencies that serve children and families should develop partnerships to address the needs of children at the time of arrest and provide advice and assistance to arrested parents, arresting officers, and those left to care for children following an arrest.
Police should collect information about children
whose parents are arrested. (Collecting information is to be used for tracking purposes, to see if a child is in the care of a designated caregiver, or if a child is placed in foster care.)
Some cities and states including, New Haven CT, San Francisco and New Mexico already have protocols in place for arresting parents when children are present. Washington, DC, San Antonio Texas, Washington State, and Allegheny County, PA and Riverside and Butte Counties in CA are in the process of developing such protocols.
To read the full report click here to go to website
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