Children’s life chances are hurt when their parents are sent to prison

When criminals go to prison, society hopefully benefits. These individuals, for example, ideally are less likely to commit new crimes. What, though, if incarceration harms the children of those who we send to prison? Daniel P. Mears and Sonja E. Siennick set out to answer that question and found that the concern is far from hypothetical. Children of incarcerated parents are more likely to go on to engage in criminal behavior, have mental health problems, use illegal drugs, and fare worse in their educational achievement, earnings, and intimate relationships.