Parental Arrest and Incarceration: How Does it Impact the Children?

Abstract

Parental arrest and incarceration represents a profound and traumatic experience for almost 3 million children in the U.S. and scholars in criminology and sociology consistently find negative impacts on children across a range of academic and behavioral outcomes. The research presented here provides evidence that parental arrest coincides with negative outcomes for children, but that the incarceration of a parent may benefit the child. Benefits occur for end-of-grade exams and behavioral (e.g. suspensions, absences) outcomes with positive effects concentrated among young children with mothers that commit violent crimes or fathers with alcohol/drug offenses. Results suggest that parental incarceration leads to the removal of a negative role model and changes in a child's home environment due to household reformation.

Keywords: parental incarceration

JEL Classification: K4