Children whose parents have been incarcerated are commonly referred to as the “hidden victims” of crimes, and many at times, the loss of a parent to incarceration can have overwhelmingly adverse effects on the child at home, in school, and afterward. The United States has the world’s largest prison population that is holding more than 1.2 million inmates, of which more than half of them are parents to children under the age of eighteen. As a result, the United States has 2.7 million children who have parents in jail or prison. Children with incarcerated parents experience disrupted living conditions with more than one displacement and a reduction in the quality of care. Many of these children have limited financial resources and lack of contact with their parents. Enduring such conditions is not easy, and this puts them at risk of substance abuse, poor academic achievement, and delinquency. Furthermore, these children also experience the risk of future incarceration, and hence this necessitates the need for additional therapeutic interceptions as they go through shame, instability, and stigma.
Parental incarceration is associated with the associated with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) such as aggression, depression, isolation, anger, and self-harming behaviors. Children and adolescents of incarcerated parents are a high-risk population for the development of trauma-related symptoms, and this necessitates the use of TF-CBT (Trauma-Focused Cognitive-behavioral Therapy) as an effective treatment and intervention (Morgan-Mullane, 2017) . TF-CBT incorporates the use of family interventions to help children of incarcerated parents overcome the effects of PTSD but also other negative and behavioral responses after trauma such as domestic violence, child sexual abuse, and other forms of maltreatment (Morgan-Mullane, 2017) . TF-CBT helps address distorted and any attributions relating to trauma by providing supportive environments that advocate for children to express their traumatic experiences and acquire the skills that are required to help them to address life stressors (Morgan-Mullane, 2017) . TF-CBT is also used as a treatment method for parents and guardians that helps them cope effectively with their emotional afflictions as well as develop the skills that are needed to support their children.
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The culture of over-prosecution and mass incarceration have devasting impacts on the welfare of children. The collateral consequences of convictions do not only affect children and their families but also communities (Brown & Gibbons, 2017) . Child protective services and policy makers must understand the implications of parental involvement with the criminal justice system. A majority of convicted adults in the United States are parents of minors, and according to the Pew Research Center, more than 15,000 children are placed into foster care annually when their parents are incarcerated (Brown & Gibbons, 2017) . After their sentences have been served, and parents return home, their criminal records act as barriers to opportunities such as educational advancement, employment, eligibility for safety net programs and housing. Child protective services working with convicted parents often than not are entwined in the criminal justice system and the long-established experiences of collateral consequences that result from criminal convictions (Brown & Gibbons, 2017) . Basically, people with criminal records in the United States are disadvantaged when it comes to employment opportunities, experience difficulties in the management of competing demands from multiple branches of the criminal justice system (law enforcement, correctional agencies, employment agencies, and courts) and their efforts to overcome the trauma of criminal records and related barriers to opportunities.
According to research, more than sixty percent of previously incarcerated individuals are unemployed a year after being released, and those who are lucky enough to be employed are paid forty percent less annually than their counterparts who have not been convicted (Meyers, 2018). More than 90 percent of institutions in the United States conduct criminal background checks in application processes. Real estate agencies ask for criminal backgrounds on leasing applications, and people with a criminal history are discouraged from applying (Meyers, 2018). College admissions and insurance companies request for criminal background checks before students can be admitted to college or before issuing out auto and life insurance policies. Criminal record reports can be accessed from a variety of sources such as courts, criminal justice, and police departments as well as consumer reporting agencies, and they include records of arrest even if there was no prosecution or conviction (Meyers, 2018). This is an indication that the records of arrest and prosecution sheets are incomplete or inaccurate, thus leading to lost opportunities for many individuals.
The employment restrictions currently being experienced by previously incarcerated individuals cost the United States economy more than $70 billion annually in terms of GDP (Meyers, 2018). The impacts of incarceration on parents are diverse as they do not only impact their economic opportunities but as well as other obligations that may be impossible to manage or may interfere with their aspirations to be reunited with their families. Besides, previously convicted individuals’ certain conditions made by parole and supervision agencies that further impedes their engagement in employment, educational, or rehabilitative opportunities (Meyers, 2018). Parents with criminal records experience legal challenges that directly or indirectly negatively affect their families. Therefore, child protective services must understand the collateral consequences of convictions experienced by these parents and should offer the required assistance as well as connect them to community support and re-entry programs that support people with previous convictions.
According to a recent study, one in ten African-American students in the United States has an incarcerated parent (Robinson and Landrum, 2013). The research also asserts that one in four students has a parent who is or has been incarcerated. Other findings from the report state that African-American children are six times more likely to their parents imprisoned than a white child. The Black community in the United States is discriminated against by the criminal justice system, which is contributing to racial disparities and the racial achievement gap experienced by African-Americans (Robinson and Landrum, 2013). Black Americans in the United States are two and a half times likely to be killed by police officers as white Americans. The police of police killings and incarceration rates in the United States disproportionately affects African-Americans despite the country being racially polarized (Robinson and Landrum, 2013). As part of his campaign strategy, President Donald Trump advocated for the nationwide policy of "stop and frisk," a practice that is primarily concentrated in low-income neighbourhoods that lead to the arrest and imprisonment of African-Americans for minor crimes.
The education policy in the United States for years has advocated for the "school to prison pipeline" where police officers are stationed in educational institutions to arrest students whose offenses can be handled by the schools' administrations without the involvement of the criminal justice system (Johnsoin et la., 2018). The "school to prison pipeline" is also used by educational institutions to advocate for racially disparate school disciplinary policies that include mandatory expulsions and suspensions for non-violent transgressions. According to a study conducted by Pew Research Centre, students who have been suspended or expelled by school administrations or arrested by school police officers are more likely to serve jail time than students with similar offenses who have been subjected to less harsh forms of discipline (Johnsoin et la., 2018). The problem of incarceration is not a criminal justice issue alone, but educators and policymakers at the local, community, and state levels must find solutions to the incarceration of African-Americans as the performance of students is impaired.
The criminal justice system in the United States asserts that mass incarceration is a result of increased crime rates, but little attention is paid to the legislation of policies such as the three strike policies that have increased sentence lengths, or the mandatory minimum policies that require incarceration for some minor crimes (Bystrova and Gottschal, 2015). Contact with the criminal justice system for vulnerable families leads to increased financial instability, mental health problems, and a socioeconomic disadvantage. According to a survey, 45 percent of African-American men and 32 percent of African-American women reported that they have a family member incarcerated, compared to 13 percent of White men and 6 percent of White women (Bystrova and Gottschal, 2015). The study also found out that less than 4 percent of white children would likely experience the incarceration of a parent before their 14 th birthday, compared to 25 percent of African-American children. The increased incarceration rates in the United States are as a result of race relations and the use of unsubstantiated force towards African-Americans in low-income neighbourhoods. African-Americans men are more than likely to sell or use drugs when compared to white (Casy, Shlafer and Masten, 2015) men, but they are four times likely to be arrested and sentenced to a jail term that is 60 percent longer than average.
Children with incarcerated parents are more than likely to become poor and experience economic instability as more than half of all inmates were the primary income provides (Casy, Shlafer and Masten, 2015). Even after the release from prison, these parents are unable to cater for their families because their criminal records discriminate them from both formal and informal employment opportunities. Parental income acts as a predictor that children will perform in school as well as grow into adulthood (Casy, Shlafer and Masten, 2015). Policy makers in the United States need to take modest measures in addressing mass incarcerations of African-Americans and prosecutors who seek prison sentences that are excessive even by historical terms and are in no way helpful in preventing crimes.
References
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