Magister Legum - LLM / In recent years the issue of medical parole has become a controversial issue in South Africa. Prior to 2012, at which juncture the law governing the release of inmates on grounds of terminal illness was amended, there were cases where the public deemed the law inadequate and susceptible to political interference.1 There can therefore be little doubt that an amendment to the law was opportune to ensure that the release of inmates was based on legitimate medical reasons.

Many caregivers for children of incarcerated parents report that they struggle to speak with children about their parent’s incarceration or substance use (Manby et al., 2015; Smyke, Bailey & Zeanah, 2017). Children’s picturebooks are promising tools to aid caregivers in this regard (Colomer et al., 2010; Lowe, 2009: p. 3; Wolf, 2017). However, research that explores the content of children’s picturebooks as effective communication tools on the topics of parental incarceration and substance use is limited. This thesis uses arts-based methods including thematic narrative analysis, techniques of visual criminology, and autoethnography to explore the textual and visual narratives that are present in a series of picturebooks for children under the age of ten on the topic of parental incarceration and substance use. It also explores how these narratives resonate with my lived experience as the daughter of a former drug user and prisoner. Mobilizing a theoretical framework based on the sociology of emotions literature and picturebook studies (Hochschild, 1980; McCarthy, 1994), I conceptualize the role of specific emotions, including hope, in children’s literature. While the picturebooks accurately depict children’s emotional experiences when their parent lives with addiction or experiences incarceration, they fail to manage children’s expectations about the barriers their family may face when their loved one is released, such as barriers relating to poverty, mental illness, and relapse. The picturebooks in this study present young children with fairy tale endings and risk providing them with a false sense of hope regarding their parent’s release. Authors of picturebooks for children under the age of ten must consider how to balance truth-telling with age-appropriateness and the desire to provide young children with hope in these circumstances.

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Lifetime incarceration within the United States has an incidence of 6.6%, thehighest globally. Within the United States, individuals experiencing incarceration are among the few citizens who have a protected right to healthcare, as outlined by the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Yet, despite the promise for adequate care, patients who are currently incarcerated or have previously experienced incarceration continue to be included in the most vulnerable and underserved populations. When bioethical principles, specifically autonomy and agency, are considered, it becomes clear that there is a convoluted relationship between the healthcare system, the correctional system, and the patient who must traverse both sides. Incarceration itself is often associated with poor short- and long-term health outcomes, and patients who currently or previously experienced incarceration can face bias when attempting to navigate the healthcare system. It is imperitive to evaluate healthcare provided in the prison systems as well as the associated outcomes because of the significant proportion of the U.S. population affected by incarceration. This thesis explores the current status of healthcare provided to individuals who are currently or previously incarcerated. In addition, this thesis aims to identify disparities that exist within the provision of this care. Lastly, it suggests potential solutions that would result in more ethical and humanistic care provided to this vulnerable population. / Urban Bioethics

Using data collected at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility, this research aimed to examine factors that affect the likelihood of re-offending by testing two models: a specific deterrence model and a proposed comparable capital model. Specifically, this research aimed to examine how economic, cultural, and social capital in the community, as well as in prison, affect self-reported likelihood of re-offending upon release, and to examine if these indicators are better suited for explaining offending as compared to those included in a deterrence model. By examining these effects, it was discovered that traditional deterrence and capital indicators alone do not provide a sufficient explanation of likelihood of re-offending. The proposed Capital and Punishment Model of Re-offending may provide a better way of conceptualizing offenders’ likelihood of re-offending upon release because it considers the effects of community and prison capital, while paying special attention to the effects of prior punishment.

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Researchers have established that legal cynicism is linked to violence, deviant behavior, and crime. In response to the potentially dangerous implications of a legally cynical society, research in recent years has attempted to identify experiences and conditions that play a role in the development of legal attitudes. Given that youths' familial and social conditions appear to be influential predictors, this study tests the relationship between parental incarceration and legal cynicism. Data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study were used for this analysis. Results from three OLS regression models indicate that parental incarceration is not a significant predictor of legal cynicism after adjusting for demographic factors. This study supports existing research for some of the risk factors tested and refutes others. Overall, findings do not support the hypothesis that children who have experienced parental incarceration have a heightened risk of legal cynicism in adolescence. Future research may investigate how youths' witness of parental arrest shapes legal attitudes.

This essay explores the design, measures and effectiveness of parenting programs for incarcerated parents. There is a growing concern for children who have incarcerated parents. The potential effects of parental incarceration and the intergenerational nature of crime and delinquency is one reason to develop parenting programs. Experiences of parental incarceration are believed to cause mental, physical, emotional and economic hardship for children. Parenting programs might be beneficial for both parents and their children. Results suggest that further efforts need to be made to support incarcerated parents during incarceration as well as after release.