“We do not wish to minimize the suffering of crime victims, and we certainly appreciate the work of law enforcement in keeping Idaho kids safe”, Munkres says.
Advertisement
In Wisconsin, the racial disparities are especially stark.
The announcement comes in the wake of a new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation that finds few resources to help children deal with the emotional and financial issues with a parent in prison. “Although disparities occur in all states, Wisconsin faces a deeper challenge that we must address – we incarcerate a larger share of black males than any other state”.
The report released Monday by the Annie E. Casey Foundation says that ties MI with six other states for the third highest parent incarceration rate.
Kids Count says African-American and Latino children are more likely than white children to have a parent in prison or jail.
Since 1980, the overall federal incarceration rate has shot up by 721 percent since 1980, and by 240 percent at a state level, according to a 2011 report from Human Rights Watch.
“While momentum for criminal justice reform continues to build, we know progress will take time”, the report says. “So much so, that parental incarceration is recognized as one of the adverse childhood experiences that can have long-lasting effects on a child’s development and well-being”.
More than 5 million children in the United States have experienced the separation of a parent due to incarceration, according to the report, A Shared Sentence: The Devastating Toll of Parental Incarceration on Kids, Families and Communities.
Cecilia Zalkind, executive director of Advocates for Children of New Jersey, which released the report with Casey, said lawmakers and policymakers need to think about the family left behind. Between 1991 and 2007, the number of children with a father in prison or jail rose by more than 50 percent, while the number with imprisoned mothers grew by more than 100 percent. Most of these children are under 10 years old.
Advertisement
Enable families impacted by incarceration to access Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families programs to cover basic needs and become self-sufficient, including revisiting the state’s limitations on assistance for certain convicted drug felons. Judges should consider the impact on families when delivering prison sentences, and court officials should inform local social service agencies when a parent has gone to prison or jail so families can be linked up with support services and counseling.
