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Incarceration in Fragile Families.

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Title: Incarceration in Fragile Families.
Authors: Wildeman, Christopher1, Western, Bruce2
Source: Future of Children. Fall2010, Vol. 20 Issue 2, p157-177. 21p. 2 Charts, 2 Graphs.
Subject Terms: *Social problems, *Black people, *Single parents, *Government policy, *Family relations, *Educational attainment, *At-risk people, *Children, Crime, Fatherhood, Intergenerational relations, Prisoners, Rehabilitation of people with mental illness, Poverty, Well-being, Independent living, Trends
Geographic Terms: United States
Abstract: Since the mid-1970s die U.S. imprisonment rate has increased roughly fivefold. As Christopher Wildeman and Bruce Western explain, the effects of this sea change in the imprisonment rate—commonly called mass imprisonment or the prison boom-have been concentrated among those most likely to form fragile families: poor and minority men with little schooling. Imprisonment diminishes the earnings of adult men, compromises their health, reduces familial resources, and contributes to family breakup. It also adds to the deficits of poor children, thus ensuring that the effects of imprisonment on inequality are transferred intergenerationally. Perversely, incarceration has its most corrosive effects on families whose fathers were involved in neither domestic violence nor violent crime before being imprisoned. Because having a parent go to prison is now so common for poor, minority children and so negatively affects them, die authors argue that mass imprisonment may increase future racial and class inequality—and may even lead to more crime in die long term, thereby undoing any benefits of the prison boom. U.S. crime policy has thus, in the name of public safety, produced more vulnerable families and reduced the life chances of their children. Wildeman and Western advocate several policy reforms, such as limiting prison time for drug offenders and for parolees who violate the technical conditions of their parole, reconsidering sentence enhancements for repeat offenders, and expanding supports for prisoners and ex-prisoners. But Wildeman and Western argue that criminal justice reform alone will not solve die problems of school failure, joblessness, untreated addiction, and mental illness that pave the way to prison. In fact, focusing solely on criminal justice reforms would repeat the mistakes the nation made during die prison boom: trying to solve deep social problems with criminal justice policies. Addressing those broad problems, they say, requires a greater social commitment to education, public health, and the employment opportunities of low-skilled men and women. The primary sources of order and stability—public safety in its wide sense—are the informal social controls of family and work. Thus, broad social policies hold die promise not only of improving the well-being of fragile families, but also, by strengthening families and providing jobs, of contributing to public safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Future of Children is the property of Future of Children and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Education Research Complete
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  Data: Since the mid-1970s die U.S. imprisonment rate has increased roughly fivefold. As Christopher Wildeman and Bruce Western explain, the effects of this sea change in the imprisonment rate—commonly called mass imprisonment or the prison boom-have been concentrated among those most likely to form fragile families: poor and minority men with little schooling. Imprisonment diminishes the earnings of adult men, compromises their health, reduces familial resources, and contributes to family breakup. It also adds to the deficits of poor children, thus ensuring that the effects of imprisonment on inequality are transferred intergenerationally. Perversely, incarceration has its most corrosive effects on families whose fathers were involved in neither domestic violence nor violent crime before being imprisoned. Because having a parent go to prison is now so common for poor, minority children and so negatively affects them, die authors argue that mass imprisonment may increase future racial and class inequality—and may even lead to more crime in die long term, thereby undoing any benefits of the prison boom. U.S. crime policy has thus, in the name of public safety, produced more vulnerable families and reduced the life chances of their children. Wildeman and Western advocate several policy reforms, such as limiting prison time for drug offenders and for parolees who violate the technical conditions of their parole, reconsidering sentence enhancements for repeat offenders, and expanding supports for prisoners and ex-prisoners. But Wildeman and Western argue that criminal justice reform alone will not solve die problems of school failure, joblessness, untreated addiction, and mental illness that pave the way to prison. In fact, focusing solely on criminal justice reforms would repeat the mistakes the nation made during die prison boom: trying to solve deep social problems with criminal justice policies. Addressing those broad problems, they say, requires a greater social commitment to education, public health, and the employment opportunities of low-skilled men and women. The primary sources of order and stability—public safety in its wide sense—are the informal social controls of family and work. Thus, broad social policies hold die promise not only of improving the well-being of fragile families, but also, by strengthening families and providing jobs, of contributing to public safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Future of Children is the property of Future of Children and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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        Value: 10.1353/foc.2010.0006
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        Text: English
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      – SubjectFull: Social problems
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Black people
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Single parents
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      – SubjectFull: Government policy
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      – SubjectFull: Family relations
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      – SubjectFull: Educational attainment
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      – SubjectFull: Fatherhood
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      – SubjectFull: Prisoners
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      – SubjectFull: Rehabilitation of people with mental illness
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      – SubjectFull: Poverty
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              Text: Fall2010
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