Incarceration’s Effects on Families

Nearly 1 in 10 children will have experienced a parent’s incarceration in prison by age 14, and there are large racial disparities in the probability of having a parent incarcerated (Wildeman 2009). Parental incarceration reduces family financial resources and parental contributions to family life and has the potential to severely harm child wellbeing. With coauthors, Fitzpatrick is examining how both maternal and paternal incarceration affect infant mortality, a particularly important indicator of child wellbeing.

 

Selected Publications

Wildeman, Christopher, Maria D. Fitzpatrick, and Alyssa Goldman. Forthcoming. “Conditions of Confinement in American Prisons and Jails.” Annual Review of Law and Social Science.

Andersen, Signe Hald, Lars H. Andersen, Maria D. Fitzpatrick, and Christopher Wildeman. 2017 “How Alternatives to Imprisonment Could Affect Child Well-Being.” Pp. 151-172 in When Parents Are Incarcerated: Interdisciplinary Research and Interventions to Support Children, Edited by Christopher Wildeman, Anna R. Haskins, and Julie Poehlmann Tynan. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association Press.