Downstream Consequences

Abstract The enduring costs of a criminal record are well documented, not only for individuals with records, but for their families as well, including the 2.6 million children with a parent behind bars on a typical day, and 5 million children who have ever had an incarcerated parent. The “mark of a criminal record,” to use Devah Pager’s phrase, is not limited to the official barriers to employment faced by those with criminal records; incarceration and adjacent criminal-legal processes are associated with challenges for incarcerated individuals and their families in the domains of family relationships, housing, schooling, and child development. This chapter reviews the literature on parental incarceration, with attention to the multiple determinants of parents’ exposure to jail and prison, through both sentencing and pre-disposition detention, and the associated family challenges. We view sentencing as a process rather than a singular decision and argue that each actor in this process—prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges—should consider the implications of their decisions for families as part of their cost-benefit calculations. Research provides overwhelming evidence that children of incarcerated parents face tremendous challenges. The moment of sentencing (or when a charge is dismissed, when relevant) provides an opportunity for intervention, both through the sentence itself and through the provision of social services, to help families navigate these challenges.