Granting children, the right to visit their incarcerated mothers is a contentious topic with both sides having strong claims and counterclaims. Terrance Bogans does an outstanding job in his essay, “Being Mommy Behind Bars: The Psychological Benefits of Child Visitation with Incarcerated Mothers” addressing why children should be allowed to visit their incarcerated mothers, citing many reasons and using many argumentative components. Bogans has an explicit thesis in the conclusion “Child visitation must be increased in order to alleviate the psychological strains that take place during incarceration” (15). Bogans uses this clearly stated thesis to tell his main point and to address his opposition. The author’s purpose is to convince readers that children and incarcerated mothers have a right to see each other and no one should stop that.
Issues of Social and Economic Justice Throughout my experience in the Panhandle Promise Project, I had the opportunity to closely examine the injustice many of the clients experience based on their race, economic status, or in the criminal justice system. Since the starting of America’s war on drugs longer sentencing for drug offences that in violent crimes, there has been an increase of the number of minorities who are currently in prison (Wormer, Kaplan, and Juby (2012). For the children having a parent incarcerated affects them in several different ways, such as having a higher risk of being place in foster care (Andersen and Wildeman, 2014) , poor school performance (Eddy et al., 2014), food insecurity (Turney, 2014c), antisocial behavioral problems (Jarjoura et al., 2011f). For women who have been release from prison new barriers limit the assistance they will received, the ineligibility for food stamps (Travis, 2002), and in some cases the loss of their children custody (Welsh, 2014b).
Adam Valneuzela Mrs. Smith English 1A 29 March 2023 Children Don’t Belong in Adult Correctional Facilities Children are suffering. There are children in adult correctional facilities such as prisons. There are high chances of those children getting abused, raped, and taken advantage of. These children are suffering from trauma and possibly have PTSD of some sort from where they had come from.
children have a parent in jail. In the Dallas-Fort Worth area alone, 72,000 children have lost a parent due to incarceration (Amachi, 2016). Due to the fact that the size of the problem is growing “and its tendency to impact already vulnerable children signals a need to clarify both the unique needs and challenges shared by these children as well as the individual qualities and circumstances that mediate the effect of parental incarceration” (La Vinge, Davies, & Brazzell, 2008, p. 2). Unfortunately, children who suffer from having an incarcerated parent are too often invisible to policy makers and social service organizations. Nature and Scope of Concern
Johnston, D. (2012). Services for Children of Incarcerated Parents. Family Court Review, 50, 91-105. The author illustrates how growing up without a parent is hard and children should have services directed towards them to help them cope.
Seven million, three-hundred thousand children, nationally are affected by parents being incarcerated for days, weeks, months, and even years. For ten days I was affected by my father’s incarceration at the Leavenworth County Jail. To some this is nothing, but to my family, this was a huge ordeal. Not only was he absent from our lives for ten days, which was longer than he’d ever been gone, but we had to transport him there, plus watch as he walked away from his wife, his kids, and his freedom.
Children of incarcerated parents may face a number of challenging circumstances. They may have experienced trauma related to their parent’s arrest or experiences leading up to it. Children of incarcerated parents may also be more likely to have faced other adverse childhood experiences, including witnessing violence in their household or exposure to drug and alcohol abuse. (Children of Incarcerated parents, 1). Analyzing data from 2011-12 National Survey of Children’s Health, a representative sample of children seventeen and younger, and the study found higher rates of attention deficits, behavioral problems, speech and language delays, and other developmental delays in children of the incarcerated.
When a person is sent to prison, their entire family, including children, are affected. The family
A 2006 study supported the notion that greater exposure to childhood adverse situations were associated with behavioral problems as well as mental health problems (Daniel, 2007). Incarcerated women have a higher incidence of mental health disorders than the general population. For example, 12 percent of females in the general population have symptoms of a mental health disorder compared to 73 percent of females in state prison, 61 percent in federal prisons, and 75 percent in local jails (Daniel, 2007). Most incarcerated women do not receive treatment or assistance for these problems and are unlikely to meet goals of mental stability without the help of prison resources. Incarcerated women who have a mental health issue are unlikely to benefit from treatment programs so they usually don’t even bother because studies have shown the women who did receive treatment still engaged in behaviors that led to incarceration, implying that the current treatment programs are not
Many children lose both of their parents every year to their parents being incarcerated. There are programs in the prison designed to mothers and fathers who can still be a parent from inside the prison. Families affected by parental incarceration face many challenges: separation, stigmatization, disruption in the home environment, and the loss of family income. These challenges have been associated with negative outcomes for children, including poor parental bonding, and internalizing and externalizing, and low school achievement. It is sad to say but only 10% of the fathers participate in the parenting classes.
In the article, the authors argue “these children are at greater risk for emotional and behavioral problems than other children, and that their household income and stability is often adversely affected by parental incarceration” (Beck & Jones, 2008, p. 128). Undoubtedly, children are greatly affected by a parent being put to death by the state and their community supporting that execution. Intense media attention during the execution date increases pain and anxiety. Following this further, the authors make the argument “Children of incarcerated parents are five times more likely to be incarcerated than children whose parent was not incarcerated” (Beck & Jones, 2008, p. 192-193).
Imagine being a child imprisoned for committing a crime for which you did not understand the consequences. Alone and afraid, with only hardened criminals and psychopaths as adult role models, you live in fear. Through a vicious combination of physical, sexual, emotional, and mental abuse, there is no option but to turn back to crime as an adult, and continue the cycle. This is a daily reality for thousands of American juveniles. Yet, we continue to call it the juvenile justice system.
people from the police to First Lady Nancy Reagan. Well it wasn’t that easy, as our nation went through this gigantic prison transformation period ever experienced by any country. It wasn’t that easy to just say no to drugs and deterrence wasn’t that easy to curb the tide of drug use either. Knowing that, if caught with drugs or committing other crimes, that aberrant person would go to prison, however, getting caught was the aspect that many times didn’t happen right away if at all. Prison wasn’t that big of a deterrent because it wasn’t an immediate action, there was long periods of time between the action and the punishment, that wasn’t enough of a preventive method to stop the criminal activity “criminal propensities overpower temporary worries about punishment” (Cullen F. T., 2017, p. 87).
Children need to feel secure and loved and need supervision and guidance. If a parent cannot be present to care for and look after their children, it can cause the child to feel afraid and they may act out or behave in ways that they would not if the parent were living with them. Several studies have found that a significant number of children of incarcerated parents struggle with a variety of childhood problems that have long term implications for adult adjustment (Kjellstrand, 2012). Even if children visit parents in while they are incarcerated, the physical and emotional distance can become a strain on their relationship. I think more should be done to encourage courts to take families into consideration in sentencing and correctional facilities should have better resources for incarcerated parents to maintain healthy relationships with their children.
Custody sentences are for punishment, rehabilitation and education, however, there are different views to youth imprisonment. Some critics say if you commit a crime you should take responsibility and jail will give you a ‘short sharp shock’ and you will receive rehabilitation. Whilst some say it is damaging to children and would lead to further reoffending once they are out due to learning crimes off other criminals. Evidence does suggest that children who have more than one risk factor present are more than likely to be involved in criminal activities (Hopkins Burke, 2016 p. 232). There are three penal institutions sometimes called secure estates - local authority secure children's homes, secure training centres and young offender’s institutes.
