The increase in parental incarceration is rapidly growing. The consequences stretch far beyond the walls of the prison that a father may be situated. Studies show that children with fathers in prison suffer from the effects of the incarcerated parent. There is a generational curse associated with parental incarceration causing the child to be more likely involved in an illegal activity which causes the child also potentially to become incarcerated. In addition to facing incarceration, the child of an incarcerated father may also show a lack of performance academically and social, as well as mental anguish. All of these effects can appear in other children but are more likely to occur when a child has an incarcerated or previously incarcerated father.
With that being said, of the studies explored most make the connection of success and the imprisoned father and only one points out the need for a solution, a proposed program to evaluate the desire the incarcerated parents may have to parent their children and to act upon it. Such a program would allow the imprisoned father to be more involved in the child's life thus reducing the risk of incarceration, and allow the child to perform better potentially in school and social environments. A solution is indeed necessary although prevention is vital. The increase in the incarceration of parental figures begins with, police patrolling, an arrest, a conviction and a sentence. Solutions such as a parenting behind bars program and prison reform are immediate solutions to the fathers currently entrapped in the jail system. A proactive approach can reduce the number of police arrest by noticing a trend within communities, to educate and better the community. With the cycle of incarceration within communities comes the cycle of a lack of performance in the school house for the children affected.
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The rejection from the peers in school and the society exposes the children whose parents have been jailed to mental anguish as they are unable to cope with the social rejection. In advanced cases, the victims suffer from depression, and this makes their humble families unable to cater for the medical needs of such children. In some instances, the children find solace in drug abuse, and this causes them to become addicts and can do anything to access the drugs.
Consequently, they exhibit violent behaviors to their peers in the society as they are deemed unfit for peaceful co-existence. The mental suffering is too much, and this makes it hard for the individual to co-exist peacefully with other in the community. In an attempt to defend themselves and prove their worth in the community, they engage in violent activities and this puts their future in doubt. The chances of succeeding when a person is a constant struggle with law enforcers are few (Daniel and Sonja, 2015). Such children develop into irresponsible citizens who cannot raise stable families. Thus, the level of dependency in the already humble families' increases and this limits the chances of future generation from liberating themselves from the chains of poverty. Therefore, parental incarceration lowers the likelihood of success in the preceding generations.
Empirical evidence shows that the number of imprisoned men continues to be the highest according to statistical reports all over the world. However, the number of confined men is highest in Africa compared to that of American men. Society believes that the imprisoned men are irresponsible, and they are considered as failures in the parenting aspect (Garry, 2000 ). In the generation we are living in, boy child has been neglected when it comes to counseling and guidance which have contributed to the high number of inmates being male. The primary course of this is the fact that more fathers are in jail, and there is no one in the society for a boy child whose father is behind bars. The child is therefore left with no one to guide and direct him towards the right direction in life. For instance, the statistics show that those male in custody had their father detained when they were growing. The mothers left in the care of the children in most cases are not in a position to provide shelter, food, and clothes.
Consequently, most children drop out of schools to assist in the house responsibilities. Due to their age, they do not get meaningful jobs, and they may opt to engage in drug trafficking which is considered as a very immoral. The children risk their life in the hands of police and their health due to the use of drugs. The business is illegal, and the law-enforcement officers are always after those people who engage in it. It leads them in the hands of law where they finally end up in the cell. However, the cycle of male children being incarcerated is because their father was in imprisoned, and this indicates that most likely their grandchildren are at high risk of being jailed. Unless the act of allowing fathers to parent behind bars is considered to end this cycle of incarceration, the problem will remain. Thus, the cycle of poverty is more likely to be repeated due to the continued chains of oppression in the family line, and this makes the future be daunted for the generations in such households.
In psychology, development of a child from childhood to adulthood needs particular attention from the parents for them to offer proper guidance about the need to take caution during that period of change. Incarcerated parents are away from their children, and there is no one to monitor the developments change in their children’s’ growth (Pierre, 1977). As children experience the growth changes, there is no one to keep them updated on the need to take care of their changes at that crucial time of the changes. As a result, they are unable to have a good relationship with their peers. The children are ridiculed by their peers who make them be more violence as they want to have a say in the society which they can only achieve through bullying. Thus, they are unable to form a meaningful relationship in the society (Pierre, 1977). As a result, they indulge in drug abuse and other social ills to boost their self-esteem. The inability to form strong social ties puts their future in danger they are likely to become unsuccessful therefore incarceration of parents negatively affects the success of their children and that of the future generation.
As a result of parents being incarcerated the children are unable to participate in school programs well due to stress which causes them to perform poorly due to the lack of good support from their parents and the environment. The fact they are supposed to share ideas with others in school for them to learn more from their school mates does not work for them as they are jeered by their peers. Thus, this lead to poor performance in school and at a point in time they end up dropping out of school (Shaw, 2015). However, they become uncompetitive when it comes to job qualifications. The need for money to sustain their needs in day to day living push them to illegal jobs such us robbery with violence which led them to jail. Consequently, the fact that their parents are in prison and their children follow the same route the chain continues from one generation to the next.
Parents have an enormous impact on a child life and determine the future life of a child. When a child lacks parental support, he or she is most likely to engage in vicious acts of prostitution. A child confined in this behaviors is at high risk of getting unwanted pregnancies and also involving into early marriages (Traci, 2012). The child born from this kind of relationship will lack proper care due to lack of finances to support their basic needs in life which lead to poverty cycle in a family of an incarcerated parent.
Incarceration is viewed as a discrimination mechanism by many states America. Evidence shows that majority of the incarcerated people are black Americans, and this raises the question of racism when it comes to engagement t in crime. When the father is jailed, the children are left in the care of their mothers who are mostly unemployed. In case the parents have jobs, they do not produce sufficient income to support the children, and this exposes the families to abject poverty. Such families are stigmatized in the community, and there are associated with criminal activities since their role models are in prison. As a result, the youths from such background engage in crime to feed and defend their families. Engagement in crime makes them be at loggerheads with the police, and this contributed to the rise in some black teenagers in America prisons. The biased judges slap them with lengthy jail systems, and this lowers their chances of raising successful families.
Consequently, the children they sire while in prison or after incarceration are likely to have a dull future as their parents will not be supportive enough. The cycle of suffering is likely to be replicated in the family to the future generation as evidenced in many states where black Americans resides (Farmer, 2004). The cause of poverty and criminal instinct in children is traced to their parents or grandparents who were convicted and jailed for participating in illegal activities. Therefore, incarceration has increased the problem of juvenile delinquency in the nation, and this limits the chances of success of the affected children.
In conclusion, the topic on the effects parental incarceration on intergeneration mobility has received much public interest from the public in the recent past. Children born in a family where one or both parents have been jailed experience many challenges in life due to lack of proper guidance. Also, they suffer from financial constraints and mental challenges as they try to cope with social rejection and inadequate resources to cater for their needs. The effects are passed to the preceding generations, and this makes the cycle of poverty repeat themselves in such families. Therefore, incarceration of parent doubts the future of subsequent generations.
References
Daniel P. Mears1 and Sonja E. Siennick1. (2015). Young Adult Outcomes and the Life-Course Parental Incarceration . Journal of Research in Crime andDelinquency:1-33
Shaw, Marcus Lee.( 2015) The Effect of Parental Incarceration on Intergenerational Educational Mobility: 1-26.
Garry A. Mendez, JR. (2000 ).Incarcerated African American Men and Their Children .Annals of the American Academy of political and social science:86-101
Traci Ratzloff .(2012 ). Paternal Incarceration and AcademicOutcomes in Young Adulthood : What is the Role of The Father-Child Relationship?:1-37
Farmer, Paul 2004. An anthropology of structural violence Curr. Anth 45 (3): 305-330.
Pierre Bourdieu 1977. Symbolic power in Identity and Structure : Issues in the Sociology of Education. Denis Gleeson ed.:112-119. Nafferton Books, Driffield, England.
