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This paper investigates the consequences of children's exposure to state-level incarceration rates on social mobility in the United States. The study uses social mobility data from the Opportunity Atlas for children born between 1978 and 1983. Jail population data is gathered from the 1985 and the 1995 Annual Survey of Jails. To analyze the impact of jail rates on social mobility, we estimate OLS regressions with state-level control variables. Of key interest is the potential differential effect of early (age 2-7) versus later (age 12-17) exposure. All estimates indicate a negative correlation between incarceration and social mobility. The main results indicate that exposure to incarceration rates during adolescence has a larger impact on social mobility. Further, the subgroup estimates indicate that female incarceration is a more effective determinant of social mobility and that the black and the female population are more sensitive to fluctuations in incarceration rates. The estimates by income percentiles show incoherent results. The results should be treated with caution to methodological issues and potential biases.

For now several years, many researchers have emphasized the importance and effectiveness of parole in the reintegration process of offenders, especially in reducing recidivism rates. A review of the existing literature revealed that, although little was known about conditional release decision-making in general, there was a flagrant lack of scientific knowledge pertaining to conditional release decisions regarding women offenders incarcerated in Canada. Using a constructionist theoretical framework and qualitative thematic analysis, this research aimed to understand which “factors” were documented by the Parole Board of Canada’s (PBC) Board members in their written parole decisions for federally incarcerated women in Canada who were serving a sentence of five years or more, between 2005 and 2015. The findings ultimately showed that, despite the implementation of more stringent government policies based on risk management, the PBC’s Board members seem to have retained their concern of promoting the reintegration of women offenders in their parole decisions. The analysis revealed that the Board members have indeed continued to place great emphasis on the women’s potential for change through a discretionary assessment of their dynamic factors. This seemingly more reintegrative vision nevertheless remains marked by the risk management approach, which raises questions about the way Board members interpret and evaluate the specific needs of the women and their potential for reintegration.

We examined the arrest experience and information disclosure of parents arrest to 17 children of incarcerated parents and their caregivers. Using in-depth interviews with children and their caregivers, data were gathered on the experience of children during their parents’ arrest, and how information on parents’ arrest was disclosed to children who were not available during their parents’ arrest. Analyses of interview transcripts thematically showed that 6 out of the 17 children were available during the arrest of their parents. This happened as police officers did not make enquires on presence of children before arriving at their arrest venue. Further, most of these children were exposed to their parents been violently treated by police officers which had emotional effect on them, while some retain vivid memories of the arrest. Our results also suggest that, there was little or no preparation of children who were not available during their parents’ arrest psychologically for the receiving of information on their parents’ arrest. As some got to know about their parents’ arrest while in school, others got to know through teasing by their friends as their caregivers lied to them concerning their parents’ whereabouts. Disclosure of information on parents’ arrest to children led to some children been emotionally traumatized. In comparison of children with incarcerated mothers to children with incarcerated fathers, children with incarcerated mothers were more likely to have witnessed the arrest of their mothers. Implications for these findings are discussed in the study.

Background: Justice-involved populations report a higher than average number of pre-incarceration stressful life events. However, few studies have described stressful life events which occur during incarceration, explored gender differences in these events, or evaluated the effect of these events on well-being. Method: This study draws from a sample of male and female adults incarcerated in 6 prison facilities across two states (n = 160) to identify the number and type of stressful life events they experienced during incarceration, gender differences in stressful events, and the relationship between stressful life events and markers of well-being (i.e., depression, hopelessness, loneliness, suicidality). We also examined whether perceived social support would buffer the relationship between stressful events and well-being outcomes. Results: Participants on average reported experiencing 4 stressful life events during their current incarceration, the most common being relocation to another cell and being made fun of/insulted by someone in the prison. There were few gender differences in types of events experienced. Regression analyses showed that stressful life events were associated with more loneliness, as well as suicidality, but only when participants had low perceived social support. Conclusions: Stressful life events, and drawing on social support networks to cope with stress, should be addressed in the context of correctional treatments to reduce suicide risk during incarceration.

Parental incarceration is connected to many negative outcomes for children including negative externalizing behaviors. Most studies are not conclusive in determining whether maternal incarceration or paternal incarceration has a more detrimental impact on children. This study looks at a sample of 2,458 youth from the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study (FFCWS) and their parents and compares the gender of the incarcerated parent and that of the child to determine if there are differences in the risk of delinquent behavior among adolescent children. Results found that parental incarceration overall increased the risk of juvenile delinquency and that female children are at greater risk of delinquency if their mothers were incarcerated. Overall, the empirical results suggest that the gender of the parent and child matter in influencing delinquent behavior. Because maternal incarceration appears to be more consequential for female daughters' participation in delinquent acts, there may be a need to have more gendered research when studying juvenile delinquency and parental incarceration.

The thesis Disfranchising Prisoners in the U.S. - New Means of Segregation?: Case Study of Commonwealth of Virginia deals with the equality of the criminal justice system in Virginia. The goal of this thesis is to determine, whether the criminal justice system in the Commonwealth of Virginia is used to discriminate against minorities and if the laws and practices are creating a group of second-class citizens out of African Americans. The first chapter will be devoted to the data and history of disenfranchisement, the second chapter will deal with the consequences of a felony conviction, such as the loss of the right to vote, loss of employment and loss of social benefits and parental rights. In the last chapter of my thesis, I will analyze the possibilities of a future reform and its main sources, such as court decisions, the ratification of a constitutional amendment to the Virginia Constitution, and gubernatorial action by the Governor of Virginia. The findings of this thesis show that the criminal justice in Virginia is used to discriminate against African Americans and that the laws and practices are creating a group of second-class citizens out of African Americans.

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The author reports on a case series of four inmates who engaged in attempted or completed surgical self-treatment of their gender dysphoria via autocastration, autopenectomy, or a combination in the absence of concomitant psychosis, intoxication, or other comorbidities that could reasonably account for this rare behavior. These behaviors occurred in the context of persistent denials of access to transgender health care in prison settings. The literature on genital self-harm is also reviewed. Incarcerated persons with severe GID may resort to life-threatening surgical self-treatments when persistently denied access to psychiatric evaluation and cross-sex hormonal treatment. In all cases of surgical self-treatment (SST; i.e., autocastration with the primary intent to reduce circulating testosterone levels) the intensity of gender dysphoria decreased compared to reported baseline levels, although symptoms of GID were still present. Of the four inmates, two were able to obtain access to cross-sex hormones after successful litigation at the time of this writing; another was not. One case remains active. This case series expands the limited literature on surgical self-treatment in the form of autocastration and autopenectomy with a focus on the potential influence of incarceration with denial of access to transgender health care.

Research on the criminal justice system, punishment, and media continue to generate academic interest, particularly in the realm of social constructionism. The social construction perspective provides insight into the process through which media-controlled images are translated into social definitions of crime and justice. One new area of interest is the representations of prisons and penal culture by the entertainment media, namely the film industry. In this study, the author contributes to the area of social constructionist literature by administering a content analysis of eleven feature films on male prisons produced between 1979 and 2001. The author examines the frequency and context of several constructs of penal culture: drug use and trafficking, rape and sexual assault, violence, and gang affiliation. This research examines whether the representations of these issues in recent motion pictures are consistent with extant academic correctional literature. The present study found that within prison films the amount of portrayal of drug use and trafficking, and rape and sexual assault is consistent with the academic literature. Overall, when compared to the academic literature, prison movies under represent gang affiliation but within movies that portray gang affiliation, that portrayal is similar to the academic literature. Notably, heroin was the drug of choice depicted within prison films while academic correctional research in prisons shows marijuana as the drug of choice. The most significant finding was that the amount and type of violence, specifically murder, was overrepresented in prison films compared to the amount and type of violence reported within current academic research. The over emphasis on violence and killing within prison films and the representation of heroin as the major drug consumed and trafficked could lead to public misunderstanding about the realities of prison life and living conditions of the prison institution. This study provides not only noteworthy information concerning the representations of prison life and penal culture by the film industry but also insight into the inconsistencies between the information presented on film and that within academic correctional literature that are transferred via this medium to the general public.