Children are negatively affected by parental incarceration, and peoples' discretion in sentencing determines for how long parents are taken away from their children. Although federal laws explicitly state that people should not consider family responsibilities and defendant gender when sentencing, psychological theory and research suggests that people might be sensitive to defendants' gender and the age of their children. The novel question is whether child age influences sentencing decisions. To test these effects, the age of the defendant's child and defendant gender were manipulated in two experiments - in a 3-sentence vignette in Study 1 and a presentence investigation report in Study 2. Study 1 tested a 2 (gender: man, woman) X 8 (age of child: 6-months, 1-year, 3-years, 5-years, 8-years, 13-years, 15-years, no child) between-subjects design, and Study 2 tested a 2 (defendant gender: man, woman) X 3 (no child, 1-year- old, 13-year-old) design. Participants in both studies were adults in the United States recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk, n = 461 in Study 1 and n = 362 in Study 2. Results revealed that in Study 1, defendants with a 1-year-old received less prison time than defendants with a 13-year-old; defendants with a 1-year-old received less prison time than defendants with no children; and defendants with a 13-year-old and defendants with no children received similar prison times. Contrary to prior work, women did not receive more lenient sentences than did men. As in Study 1, Study 2 found that men and women received similar prison times. Thus, results from both studies suggest that perhaps people are becoming more egalitarian in their sentencing decisions for men and women, and thus, are not influenced by traditional gender roles. Results from Study 2 revealed that defendants with a 1-year-old child received similar sentences to defendants with a 13-year-old child. Further, defendants without children received similar sentences to defendants with children. Thus, Study 1 and Study 2 found inconsistent results of whether child age influenced sentencing decisions. Therefore, results from both studies suggests that child age might influence sentencing decisions when little information is given. However, when more information is given (e.g., criminal history and details about the crime), child age does not influence sentencing decisions. Another important component of the present research was to determine why people might sentence defendants differently based on child age and defendant gender. Results from Study 2 revealed that people's general concern for the child did not mediate the relationship between child age and prison time, and perceptions of the defendant's moral character did not mediate the relationship between parental status and prison time. However, people's general concern for the child and defendants' moral character predicted prison time for the defendant, suggesting that people are influenced by their concern for the child and their perceptions of the defendants' moral character when making sentencing decisions. Considering the defendant's moral character when sentencing is a biased decision that impacts defendants' outcomes, creating a disparity between defendants who are perceived to be more moral than others. However, considering the concern of the child when making sentencing decisions is desirable because children of parents who offend are less likely to be separated from their parents, thus protecting them from a whole host of negative outcomes (e.g., future delinquency, internalizing and externalizing problems).

Decades of research have demonstrated that the parent-child dyad and the environment of the familyâ€"which includes all primary caregiversâ€"are at the foundation of children's well- being and healthy development. From birth, children are learning and rely on parents and the other caregivers in their lives to protect and care for them. The impact of parents may never be greater than during the earliest years of life, when a child's brain is rapidly developing and when nearly all of her or his experiences are created and shaped by parents and the family environment. Parents help children build and refine their knowledge and skills, charting a trajectory for their health and well-being during childhood and beyond. The experience of parenting also impacts parents themselves. For instance, parenting can enrich and give focus to parents' lives; generate stress or calm; and create any number of emotions, including feelings of happiness, sadness, fulfillment, and anger. Parenting of young children today takes place in the context of significant ongoing developments. These include: a rapidly growing body of science on early childhood, increases in funding for programs and services for families, changing demographics of the U.S. population, and greater diversity of family structure. Additionally, parenting is increasingly being shaped by technology and increased access to information about parenting. Parenting Matters identifies parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with positive developmental outcomes in children ages 0-8; universal/preventive and targeted strategies used in a variety of settings that have been effective with parents of young children and that support the identified knowledge, attitudes, and practices; and barriers to and facilitators for parents' use of practices that lead to healthy child outcomes as well as their participation in effective programs and services. This report makes recommendations directed at an array of stakeholders, for promoting the wide-scale adoption of effective programs and services for parents and on areas that warrant further research to inform policy and practice. It is meant to serve as a roadmap for the future of parenting policy, research, and practice in the United States.

After decades of stability from the 1920s to the early 1970s, the rate of imprisonment in the United States has increased fivefold during the last four decades. The U.S. penal population of 2.2 million adults is by far the largest in the world. Just under one-quarter of the world's prisoners are held in American prisons. The U.S. rate of incarceration, with nearly 1 out of every 100 adults in prison or jail, is 5 to 10 times higher than the rates in Western Europe and other democracies. The U.S. prison population is largely drawn from the most disadvantaged part of the nation's population: mostly men under age 40, disproportionately minority, and poorly educated. Prisoners often carry additional deficits of drug and alcohol addictions, mental and physical illnesses, and lack of work preparation or experience. The growth of incarceration in the United States during four decades has prompted numerous critiques and a growing body of scientific knowledge about what prompted the rise and what its consequences have been for the people imprisoned, their families and communities, and for U.S. society. The Growth of Incarceration in the United States examines research and analysis of the dramatic rise of incarceration rates and its affects. This study makes the case that the United States has gone far past the point where the numbers of people in prison can be justified by social benefits and has reached a level where these high rates of incarceration themselves constitute a source of injustice and social harm. The Growth of Incarceration in the United States examines policy changes that created an increasingly punitive political climate and offers specific policy advice in sentencing policy, prison policy, and social policy. The report also identifies important research questions that must be answered to provide a firmer basis for policy. This report is a call for change in the way society views criminals, punishment, and prison. This landmark study assesses the evidence and its implications for public policy to inform an extensive and thoughtful public debate about and reconsideration of policies.

This book draws international attention to the autonomy of the child accompanying incarcerated mothers, and those they leave behind in the community, despite being dependent on the convicted caregiver. Adopting a child rights perspective, the study explores how courts could go about sentencing mothers of young children for the commission of criminal offences, whilst protecting the rights of the child as envisaged under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Drawing on the author’s experience as a sentencer in the Kenyan court and with reference to domestic, regional and international law, the book argues that children’s rights are presently left in abeyance when their mothers are sentenced to imprisonment, and that greater efforts should be made to recognize and give effect to the child’s existence as an autonomous equal holder of human rights, despite being dependent on the convicted caregiver. It explores the application of precedence as well as the court’s discretion in view of the dependent child, and concludes that policy reform in this respect calls for change in attitude and approach on women and children’s issues. Observing that internationally, most women imprisoned with their children fall beneath the custodial threshold set by law, the research examines how current sentencing practices could be reformed, and suggests harnessing the Power of Mercy Committee, the Sentencing Guidelines and progressive practices from developed countries in protecting the child’s rights by imposing non-custodial sentences for the offending mothers. It is concluded that in all jurisdictions, strict accountability for the dependent child should be situated with the judiciary, and that the same should be pronounced as a mandatory legal requirement. The book will be a valuable resource for academic, researchers and policy-makers working in the area of international children’s rights law and criminal law.

Describes how positive parental involvement deters delinquent behavior while its absence -- or worse, its negative counterpart -- fosters misconduct. Researchers conclude that children raised in supportive, affectionate, and accepting homes are less likely to become deviant.

This insightful book focuses on developments since the publication in 2007 of the Corston Report into women and criminal justice. While some of its recommendations were accepted by government, actual policy has restricted the scale and scope of change. The challenges of working with women in the current climate of change and uncertainty are also explored, seeking to translate lessons from good practice to policy development and recommending future directions resulting from the coalition government’s Transforming Rehabilitation plans. This timely analysis engages with wide-ranging considerations for policy makers, providers and practitioners of services and interventions for women who offend, and questions whether women should be treated differently in the criminal justice system.

The essays in this collection deploy biological and social scientific perspectives to evaluate the transformative experience of parenthood for today's women and men. They map the similar and distinct roles mothers and fathers play in their children's lives and measure the effect of gendered parenting on child well-being, work and family arrangements, and the quality of couples' relationships. Contributors describe what happens to brains and bodies when women become mothers and men become fathers; whether the stakes are the same or different for each sex; why, across history and cultures, women are typically more involved in childcare than men; why some fathers are strongly present in their children's lives while others are not; and how the various commitments men and women make to parenting shape their approaches to paid work and romantic relationships. Considering recent changes in men's and women's familial duties, the growing number of single-parent families, and the impassioned tenor of same-sex marriage debates, this book adds sound scientific and theoretical insight to these issues, constituting a standout resource for those interested in the causes and consequences of contemporary gendered parenthood.