GUEST
of opportunity, skill deficits, wage-institutions, and post-incarceration consequences, we see that the relationship
between incarceration and inequality is
isochronous and not dependent in any
one direction. For example, low skilled
workers are more likely to be incarcerated, while ex-inmates are less likely to
have high educational attainment and
stable employment, according to Western et. al. Consequently, Sampson and
Laub, and Warr argue, those swept up
in the mass incarceration epidemic are
caught in the vicious cycle of recidivism
as a result of the habitual character of inequality. In addition to employment and
wage inequality, this pervasive cycle is
also measured by examining incarceration’s disruptive impact on the family’s
function within the adult life course.
I
Imprisonment & the Family
ncarceration has been shown to negatively impact family stability in a
number of key ways. For example,
Defina and Hannon use state-level data to
show how imprisonment increases poverty by removing primary earners from
the family unit, making the poor poorer.
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VANDERBILT POLITICAL REVIEW
Families led by single-mothers are five
times more likely to be poor when compared to married and/or cohabitating parent families because these households
have more potential income. Because
the proportion of births to single mothers is increasing, especially amongst
black women, children are more likely
to live in households with only one potential earner, argue Cancian and Reed.
This trend more so represents already
disadvantaged women who are less likely than advantaged women to raise their
children in the context of marriage. In
2009, McLanahan and Percheski found
that sixty-seven percent of black families were female-headed households.
Mass incarceration contributed to the
increase in single-motherhood by removing potential earners and narrowing
marriage prospects, two important components of achieving family stability in
the adult life course according to Western and McLanahan. Additionally, most
families claim to lose assistance with
childcare, while simultaneously trying
to protect their children from joining the
cycle of neighborhood violence. As extended family and kin try to compensate
for the collapse in social networks, Bra-
man and Richie found women caregivers are usually forced to pick up the remaining burden caused by incarceration.
Rutter and Wilbur et al. argue that
children who grow up in poor socioeconomic conditions suffer the greatest
consequences when losing a parent to
incarceration. They are more likely to
have behavioral and emotional problems
and are less likely to have high educational attainment. It is also very likely
that there are instances where children
do benefit from losing violent, abusive
parents to prison; however, one must
wonder if this is the case the majority
of the time? In response, Hagan and
Dinovitzer suggest that the imprisonment of parents may in fact be a more
traumatizing event in a child’s life
course than the circumstances that existed before the parent’s incarceration.
In addition to living in single-parent
households, the children of incarcerated parents have less social capital
because their family resources are limited, making them more likely to enter
prison sometime in their adult lives. Ultimately, children are burdened by the
strain of economic deprivation, the loss
of parental socialization, and the social
stigma of having an incarcerated parent.
Recidivism, Stigma, & Policy
A
s shown above, the effects of
incarceration hinder socioeconomic opportunities and heavily
impact the family unit by decreasing social capital. Even upon release, ex-cons
are unable to pursue normal life endeavors because of prison’s negative influence on societal legitimacy. This opportunity paradox is further compounded
when analyzing the relationship between recidivism, stigma, and policy,
revealing the vicious cycle of criminality amongst low-income Americans.
Criminologists show that cyclical
crime, or recidivism is associated with
failure to achieve the main components
of adult stability such as reliable employment and marriage because these