Incarcerated Parents Essay

In the United States there are 2.2 million people incarcerated according to sentencing project. There have been few research studies on the effect on children with incarcerated parents. Research shows that children that see their parents incarcerated are more likely to be deviant in the future. Deviance is an act that goes against the social norm. There are factors that determine whether or not if a child is at higher risk of becoming incarcerated in the future. Some of the factors include lower income family, families with low social economic status, minorities (African Americans and Hispanics), family dynamics, and substance abuse. According to Aaron L. and Dallaire D., children of incarcerated parents especially boys are five times more …show more content…
When one parent is incarcerated, the other parent must take over in order to meet financial means. In order to meet these means, the parents must work two jobs or work longer hours. While the parent is busy trying to take care of the finances, the children are left alone. This is when the child can experience delinquent behavior because the adult in the household is focused on the finances rather than the children. A research conducted by Aaron L and Dallaire D, had three schools participate in a program called Children-at-risk program (CAR). The researchers gathered students who were at risk and also had their parents get involved as well. The researchers split the children into two groups. One was the control group, which received no help from the CAR program, the second was the treatment group, which received help from the CAR program. The results showed that children who were not involved in the CAR program reported higher level of family stress and parents reported that their child was acting more deviant. This research resulted in children going though problems with family dynamic that lead the children to act out in a deviant