Research on Children ofCriminal Offenders

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Research on Children of Criminal Offenders

• Past, Present, and Future

Susan D. Phillips, Ph.D.
UIC JANE ADDAMS COLLEGE OF SOCIAL WORK
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• Suggested citation
• Phillips, S. D. (2007, September). Research on
  children of criminal offenders Past, present,
  and future . Presentation at the 2007 Kids Count
  Conference, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Baltimore,
  Md.

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PAST RESEACH
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Parent criminality and the risk for delinquency

• Glueck, S., Glueck, E. (1950). Unraveling
  Juvenile Delinquency. Cambridge, MA Harvard
  University Press.
• McCord, J., McCord, W. (1958). The effects of
  parental role model of criminality. Journal of
  Social Issues, 14, 66-75.

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Criminality is difficult to measure. . .

• So, researchers measured parental arrest
• Was parent ever arrested?
• Convicted versus not convicted?
• Felony versus misdemeanor?

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Parental arrest is a risk marker

• Parent risk factors
• Antisocial attitudes and behavior
• Lack of education
• Substance abuse
• Mental illness
• Family risk factors
• Single-parent households
• Family conflict
• Poverty
• Inadequate parenting
• Disruption in care
• Community risk factors
• Exposure to violent
• Access to drug markets
• Delinquent peers

Parental arrest
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• Children whose parents get arrested (not just
  incarcerated) have a heightened risk for
  delinquency

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Cumulative Risk

• Likelihood of adverse outcomes increases
  exponentially as the number of risk factors
  increases

Number of Risk Factors
See for example Biederman, J., Milberger, S.,
Faraone, S. V., Kiely, K., Gutie, J., Mick, E.,
et al. (1995). Family-environment risk factors
for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder A
test of Rutter's indicators of adversity. Archive
of General Psychiatry, 2, 464-470. Bry, B. H.,
McKeon, P., Pandina, R. (1982). Extent of drug
use as a function of number of risk factors.
Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 91, 273-279.
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• RECENT RESEACH

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Influences

• Feminist criminology
• Focused attention of the parenting role of
  female inmates
• Expansion of the criminal justice system
• Created a sense of urgency

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Feminist Criminology (1960s)

• Do male theories of delinquency and crime apply
  to females?1, 2
• Do prison programs adequately address the needs
  of female inmates? 3,4
• Is prison adjustment different for women than men
  because of their different relationship to their
  children? 5,6

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Expansion of Prison Population (1980s)

• Crack cocaine and gang violence
• More police (increased likelihood of arrest)
• Sentencing guidelines (greater likelihood of
  people being sent to prison)
• Mandatory maximum sentences
• Three strikes laws
• Truth in sentencing (serve greater proportion of
  sentence)
• Focus has been on incarceration, but arrests,
  probation, and parole have also increased

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Shift in Research Questions

• How are children affected differently by the
  incarceration mothers versus fathers?
• Are there unintended adverse consequences of
  parental incarceration for children?
• Is parental incarceration a risk marker or risk
  factor?

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1. How are children affected by the incarceration
mothers versus fathers?
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• http//www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/iptc.pdf

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• Rate of increase in mothers in prison outpaced
  rate of increase in fathers in prison
• A greater proportion of mothers in prison were
  living with their children before entering prison
  (64 vs 44)
• A greater proportion of mothers in prison have
  children living with a grandparent compared to
  fathers(53 vs 13)
• A greater proportion of mothers have children in
  foster care (9.6 vs 1.8)

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More recent research. . .

• About two-thirds of children with an arrested
  mother also have an arrested father10
• Maternal arrest and paternal arrest may have
  different consequences for children
• But, children of arrested mothers and fathers are
  not distinct populations
• Recent renewal of interest in the effects of
  fathers imprisonment
• Wilbur et al. (2007) Socioemotional effects of
  fathers incarceration on low-income, urban,
  school-aged children. Pediatrics
  http//www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/full
  /120/3/e678

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2. Are there unintended adverse consequences of
parental arrest and incarceration for children?
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Look familiar?????

• Single-parent and grandparent-headed households
• Economic and material crises
• Long-term effects on employability and earnings
  of parents
• Changes in residence and caregivers
• Separation from siblings
• Grief, stigma, anxiety, behavior problems

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Limitations

• Small ns
• Convenience samples
• Cross sectional
• No direct observation of children
• Non-standardized measures

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What this research tells us

• Children have adverse experiences, but how common
  are they?

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Compared to other children

• Adolescents in mental health settings11
• National Survey of Child and Adolescent
  Well-being 12
• Great Smoky Mountains Study 13

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• Nationally representative sample of maltreatment
  reports
• 1 in 8 children had recently arrested parents
• Greater cumulative risk
• More likely to be placed out-of-home (is there
  spill-over??)
• Parental arrest predicted out-of-home placement,
  but did not differentiate between placement with
  relatives versus non-relatives
• Non-relative placement was associated with
  cumulative risk and child behavior problems
• Children with arrested parents were no more
  likely than other children to have clinical CBCL
  scores

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The most consistent finding

• As a group, children whose a parents have a
  history of arrest are exposed to a greater total
  number of risk factors
• These children and families are among the most
  complex cases service systems encounter

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3. Is parental incarceration a risk marker or a
risk factor?

• i.e., Are childrens problems caused by the
  problems their parents have or by putting parents
  with problems in prison?

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Incarceration

• Parent Risk Characteristics
• Substance abuse
• Mental health problems
• Low educational attainment

• Family Risk Exposures
• Structure
• Economic
• Quality of care
• Stability

Source Phillips, et al. (2006) Disentangling the
risks. Criminology and Public Policy
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Incarceration
2.0
Family Risks Economic Strain

• Parent Risks
• Substance abuse
• Mental health problem
• Low education

2.0
1.6
2.7
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Incarceration
2.0

• Parent Risks
• Substance abuse
• Mental health problem
• Low education

Family Risks Instability of Care
2.0
2.1
1.2
Source Phillips, et al. (2006) Disentangling the
risks. Criminology and Public Policy
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• No association with. . .
• Quality of care
• Family structure

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Implications for practice

• Parental incarceration is a unique risk factor
  for poverty and family disruption.
• Newly evolving programs focus on the parenting
  role of inmate parents and on helping parents
  maintain contact with criminal authorities.
• Substance abuse, mental illness, and lack of
  education have equally detrimental effects on
  poverty and family stability but also affect
  parenting and family structure

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FUTURE RESEARCH
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• Research to answer theoretical and policy
  questions
• Is parental incarceration a risk marker or risk
  factor?
• Need longitudinal data starting with very young
  children
• Parent criminal careers

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• Research to inform service development
• Current services are characterized by a
  one-size-fits-all approach and emphasize harm
  reduction
• Need for targeted services that are responsive to
  needs of children, their parents, and focus on
  the communities where children of offenders are
  concentrated
• Differences among children14
• Differences in parents criminal careers
  matter?15

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Relevant Research

• Research on Parent Criminality
• Pittsburgh Youth Study
• Loeber, R., Stouthamer-Loeber, M. (1986).
  Family factors as correlates and predictors of
  juvenile conduct problems and delinquency. Crime
  and Justice, 7, 29-149.
• Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development
• Farrington, D. P. (1993). Childhood origins of
  teenage antisocial behavior and adult social
  dysfunction. Journal of the Royal Society of
  Medicine, 86, 13-17.
• Great Smokey Mountains Study
• Costello, E. J., Erkanli, A., Fairbank, J. A.,
  Angold, A. (2002). The prevalence of potentially
  traumatic events and in childhood and
  adolescence. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 15,
  99-112.
• National Study of Child and Adolescent Well-being
• Phillips, S. D., Burns, B. J., Wagner, H. R.,
  Barth, R. P. (2004). Parental arrest and children
  in child welfare services agencies. American
  Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 2, 174-186.
• Robins, L. N. (1978). Sturdy childhood predictors
  of adult antisocial behaviour replications from
  longitudinal studies. Psychological Medicine, 8,
  611-622.
• Guzder, J., Paris, J., Zelfowitz, P., Feldman,
  R. (1999). Psychological risk factors for
  borderline pathology in school-age children.
  Child Adolescent Psychiatry, 38, 206-212.
• Farrington, D. P., Jolliffe, D., Loeber, R.,
  Stouthamer-Loeber, M., Kalb, L. M. (2001). The
  concentration of offenders in families, and
  family criminality in the prediction of boys'
  delinquency. Journal of Adolescence, 24, 579-596.
• Leve, L. D., Chamberlain, P. (2004). Female
  juvenile offenders Defining an early-onset
  pathway for delinquency. Journal of Child
  Family Studies, 13, 439-452.
• Sirpa, S. K. (2002). Familial criminality,
  familial drug use, and gang membership Youth
  criminality, drug use, and gang membership - What
  are the connections? Journal of Gang Research, 9,
  11-22.

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Relevant Research

• Maher, L., Feinman, C. (1991). Punishment and
  welfare Crack cocaine and the regulation of
  mothering. New York Haworth.
• Task Force on the Female Offender. (1990). The
  female offender What does the future hold?
  Arlington, VA American Correctional Association.
• Barry, E. M. (1991). Pregnant, addicted and
  sentenced Debunking the myths of medical
  treatment in prison. Criminal Justice, Winter,
  23-27.
• Harm, N. J. (1992). Social policy on women
  prisoners A historical analysis. Affilia, 7(1),
  90-108.
• Fogel, C. I. (1993). Hard time The stressful
  nature of incarceration for women. Issues in
  Mental Health Nursing, 14(1), 30-47.
• Clark, J. (1995). The impact of the prison
  environment on mothers. Prison Journal, 75,
  306-340.
• Bureau of Justice Statistics http//www.ojp.usdoj.
  gov/ bjs/glance/corrtyp.htm
• Source Book of Criminal Justice Statistics 2003,
  (Table 6.57) http//www.albany.edu/sourcebook/pdf/
  t657.pdf
• Source Book of Criminal Justice Statistics 2003,
  (Table 6.8) http//www.albany.edu/
  sourcebook/pdf/t6.8.pdf
• Phillips, S. D., Erkanli, A., Costello, E. J.,
  Angold, A. (2007). Differences among children
  whose mothers have a history of arrest. Women
  Criminal Justice, 17(2/3), 45-63.
  http//www.ingentaconnect.com/content/haworth/wcj/
  2007/00000017/F0020002/art00003

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• Phillips et al. (2002). Parental incarceration
  among youth receiving mental health services.
  Journal of Child and Family Studies, 11(4),
  385-399. http//www.springerlink.com/content/j7077
  3133670v411/
• Phillips et al. (2004). Parental arrest and
  children in child welfare services agencies.
  American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 2, 174-186.
• Phillips, et al. (2006) Disentangling the risks.
  Criminology and Public Policyhttp//www.blackwell-
  synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1745-9133.2006.00404
  .x
• Also
• Kinner et al. (2007). Do paternal arrest and
  imprisonment lead to child behavior problems and
  substance use? A longitudinal analysis. Journal
  of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.
  Doi10.1111/j.1469-7610.2007.01785.x
• Murray, J., Farrington, D. P. (2005). Parental
  imprisonment Effects on boys' antisocial
  behaviour and delinquency through the life
  course. Journal of Child Psychology and
  Psychiatry, 46, 1269-1278.
• Murray, J., Janson, C., Farrington, D. P.
  (2007). Crime in adult offspring of prisoners A
  cross-national comparison of two longitudinal
  samples. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 34,
  133-149.

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• Phillips, S. D., Erkanli, A., Costello, E. J.,
  Angold, A. (2007). Differences among children
  whose mothers have a history of arrest. Women
  Criminal Justice, 17(2/3), 45-63.
• Phillips, S. D., Erkanli, A. (2007).
  Differences in patterns of parental arrest and
  the parent, family, and child problems child
  protective service workers encounter in working
  with families. Children and Youth Services
  Review, doi10.1016/j.childyouth. 2007.09.003