Research & Statistics

Approximately 60% of incarcerated adults in the U.S. are parents of minor children. Based on national survey data, over 336,300 households with a total of 1.5 million minor children are impacted by the current incarceration of a parent. In 1999, these numbers accounted for 2.1% of all U.S. children. Many more children have parents who spent time in prison in the past, or who currently have parents on probation or parole.

Unfortunately, despite the relatively large numbers of children affected by parental incarceration, scant information is available on the impact of incarceration on children (see Prisoners Once Removed from the Urban Institute for a recent summary).  

The information that is available suffers from a variety of problems. Not only is the scientific quality low for most studies of this population, but also little is known about the long term impacts of parental incarceration on children. While it is often written that the children of incarcerated parents are six times more likely to be incarcerated than their peers, the study that is the source for this statistic is unknown.

The best estimate of long term risk presently available comes from longitudinal studies of child development (see a review in Eddy and Reid, 2004, in Prisoners Once Removed). Assuming violent or serious delinquent behavior by 8% of the population of minors, the youth with parents who are the most likely to be involved with the adult criminal justice system are three to six times more likely to exhibit violent or serious delinquency than the youth with parents who are the least likely to be involved with the adult criminal justice system. Clearly, more research is needed as to whether the incarceration of a parent puts a child at greater risk for delinquency, crime, and incarceration than is already present from having a parent who exhibits criminal behavior.

Very few studies have been conducted examining the effects of intervention or prevention programs on the adjustment of the children of incarcerated parents. For example, despite the relatively widespread use of parental education programs in prison, almost nothing is known about the direct impact of these programs on the children of incarcerated parents.

Finally, just a handful of researchers have directly interviewed either the children of incarcerated parents or their caregivers. Much of the information available on both of these populations comes from anecdotal accounts or from samples of convenience.

Our team from the Children’s Justice Alliance has been working together since our inception to improve the quality and depth of the information available on the children of incarcerated parents, their caregivers, and their parents. 

Our largest studies to date have been conducted in concert with research scientists from the National Institute of Mental Health funded Oregon Prevention Research Center (principal investigator, Dr. John B. Reid) at the Oregon Social Learning Center. 

The first study was a survey on the family and visitation experiences of 1259 randomly selected inmates incarcerated in Oregon (principal investigator, Dr. J. Mark Eddy). Eighty percent of respondents were male, and 20% were female. Sixty-nine percent of women and 62% of men reported having children of any age, and 47% of inmates reported information on specific children age 18 years or younger. Complete results will be submitted for publication in 2005. 

The second study is ongoing, and is funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (principal investigator, Dr. J. Mark Eddy, co-investigators, Dr.’s Charles Martinez, Jr., Leslie Leve, Kevin Moore, and John B. Reid). When completed, this 5-year randomized controlled trial of parent management training for incarcerated parents will include 200 incarcerated men and 200 incarcerated women and a sample of their children and the caregivers of their children. The study will be completed in 2008, and a number of preliminary papers are currently in progress.

Additional pilot studies have or are being conducted with incarcerated parents, their children, and the caregivers of their children. The first to be completed was conducted in concert with researchers from the Netherlands, and results are currently being written up in the form of a masters thesis. In this study, formerly incarcerated parents were called and asked about their experiences since returning home.