In class we discussed the implications of parental incarceration on families and children. A 2005 article in the New Orleans Times Picayune connects rising rates of child poverty in
How do issues of race and class intersect with respect to this issue? How are children affected by the incarceration of a parent, in the short-term and the long-term? What are the implications for the future of families living in this part of the country? Think not just about the families that exist today, but the families that will exist in the next generation, the parents of which will be the children of today's families. What kinds of resources are lacking in
78 comments:
Issues of race and class intersect with the incarceration and poverty rates. The people who are being arrested who are lower class and minorities probably do not have the affluence to be able to support their families from jail which leads to harder financial difficulties to the family members that are left behind with single parent or guardian households for children. Children are affected by this issue due to the lack of a parent’s presence in the short and long term. The child grows up not knowing who their parent is/was. They may also have different opinions towards jail and family life, possibly more accepting or more rejecting of the idea. In future families, I see that the incarceration rates as rising. There are no reform programs and people keep falling in to cycles missing their lives and especially missing in their families lives. If this continues, there will be serious negative consequences on families and poverty in this part of the country. Louisiana needs to have an aid for the children left behind due to a parent in jail. In the long run they were not at fault for not being having been put in a situation like this yet they also suffer from the consequences their parents have made and leads them down the spiral of poverty. Culturally and structurally there need to be programs implemented to help the innocent children left behind.
In agreement with .235, race and class intersect when you correlate the incarceration and poverty rates. This evidence points to serious racism in our country’s incarceration rates, intersecting with classism given that approximately 90% of all people of all races being arrested are living below the poverty level at the time of their arrest. This absence of a parent due to incarceration, can cause short-term and long-term affects. The abrupt change and adjustment in family structure can produce long-term financial instability and familial unstableness, which can easily lead to poverty. In addition, according to the child-parent attachment circumstances, the children may lack the necessary emotional exchange or quality of care once provided or needed. In turn, these factors can hamper long-term future relationships or produce negative behaviors impeding one's development. Considering the highest rates of incarceration are in Louisiana, future families in this state have to make a name for themselves and not fall in the cycle. They have set expectations higher than other states to provide adequate care for their children and maintain a traditional family. Furthermore, if previous generations have fell into this cycle of incarceration, the expectations are that much harder to achieve considering the lack of encouragement and motivation. Overall, Louisiana lacks proper programs aimed to facilitate those children whose parents have left them for jail. Moreover, the state lacks beneficial programs aimed to decrease the incarceration rates. Once again I agree with .235, considering these rising rates, the government should step in and enforce programs that provide employment and safer environments for families. These factors could easily contribute to better choices for those jail bound or not. Culturally and structurally, the state needs to realize that this issue affects every family that resides in Louisiana. Regardless if one family has had no history of incarceration and one family has, they are all directly affected and surrounded by these illegal acts.
After reading both of the previous comments I am in agreement with what the two posters had to say. I believe that race and class in respect to incarceration rates no matter what state you are in, are directly correlated. It is known that certain races tend to have a higher percentage of those incarcerated and in Louisiana it is no different. Also those that have a lower SES than others fall into the vicious cycle of going to jail than those that have a greater income and live in better neighborhoods. The class you are in basically determines your future. A lot of people feel as if they have no way out if they are living in the ghetto for example and fall into the street life. This is why you see so many poorer class individuals behind bars.
Along with affecting the lives of those directly incarcerated, the family they are essentially leaving behind are hit with hardship as well. If a child has a parent behind bars the communication is next to none. Letters can be written and phone calls can be made, but it is not the same as having the physical presence of that parent. With this major aspect of child development lacking a child may experience negative repercussions. It is proven that when a child lacks a father figure they have a harder time building relationships, doing well in school, staying out of trouble with the law and other behavioral problems. All of this affects the child both long term and short term. Living in Louisiana with the incarceration rate being so high it does not seem as if the problem can be solved. When a child’s parent has gone to prison they are more likely than most to follow the same path, and thus creates the terrible cycle of a family not being able to escape the system.
It is obvious when looking at the statistics of this state that something is seriously lacking both structurally and culturally. The main cultural factor that I think is the main contributor to the entire problem is the lack of education on the families part. If it is instilled in the children at a young age what needs to be done by them in order to be successful than I do not believe that the issue would be as great as it is, but many times the families are young and don’t have much knowledge about living the right way either. Structurally just as the .329 said, I believe programs is something that is lacking. If there were programs in place that educated the citizens on how to walk the right way, and not run into trouble the numbers we are seeing of those behind bars would drop.
Race and class intersect with this issue on the Incarceration of Parents because majority of people who are incarcerated are minorities and are from low-income households. Children are affected by the incarceration of a parent because now they have one less parent to take care of them and if they only had one parent to begin with, they now have no parents and can be placed into foster care. These children are affected financially and emotionally. If a child’s parent is incarcerated at a young age, the child can become the topic of teasing in his or her school. Children can be very cruel at such a young age because they do not understand. Also the child can grow up without a role model and turn to his or her surroundings. While some children may be placed into a good home, with good foster parents. There are numerous children that suffer from their parents being incarcerated. They turn to drugs and violence to mend the pain of not having a parent throughout their childhood. The future of families living in this part of the country are faced with implications such as poverty, teen pregnancy, teen death, high school dropouts and many other factors that would affect a family as a whole. Some resources that are lacking in Louisiana are proper schooling systems. There may also be a lack of mentors within communities for these children. Having a proper schooling system and role models to motivate these children to stay out of trouble is extremely important. It gives these children a sense of hope, especially for those whose parents are incarcerated.
The issue of race and class intersect with the issue of incarceration because the majority of the incarcerated are low income African Americans. These individuals may not have committed a serious crime or even committed a crime at all but the areas they reside in because of what they can afford are more than likely low income communities where a drugs and illegal activity is prevalent. The children suffer the most when they have a parent that is incarcerated. In the short term aspects they are exposed to prison life if they have to experience going to see that parent. They also deal with low academic achievement due to the parent being incarcerated, and they may feel abandoned and lost. I In the long run having a family history of being incarcerated may set a negative example for the child ultimately leading them into criminal justice system. The implications for the future of the families living in this part of country is that no one is reaching out to lift these individuals up and out of poverty and crime bound areas. These families will not have a chance to better oneself if no one steps in and help the children, the mothers and the fathers realize that they are needed not only in their households but in their communities as well. The next generation will be in the same predicament and the generation after if families do not take a step towards making a better life. Louisiana is lacking organizations that can help individuals find full time jobs and skill training. After these individuals have been incarcerated for some they desperately need someone to help them, if not they are likely to fall back into old habits. Culturally African Americans need to take pride in being successful and making it out of poverty than glorifying the way of life as a “norm”. Structurally it is up to the organizations and the criminal justice system to see to it that they are helping these individuals avoid being criminals and helping them recover afterwards. In regards to blogger .235 having an aid that helps the children copes when a parent is incarcerated to very important. It helps the children realize that they are not alone and there is someone who is willing to be that male or female figure in their lives, while their parent is away.
In terms of incarceration, issues of race and class are directly correlated in my opinion. The majority of people who are being incarcerated are a minority and have a low socio-economic status. This is because people of low socio-economic status tend to live in areas that are high in crime and
violence. Unfortunately, the incarceration of a parent can have short-term and long-term effects. A short and long term effect could be that the family suffers through financial stress because there is one less person providing a weekly paycheck. The family could no longer be able to provide the same kinds of goods for the child as before and the family may have to rely on government assistance to pay the bills and food. A long term effect could be that the child would suffer emotionally without the support of one parent; they would have one less person
to go to for support. A child could be ridiculed at school for having a parent that is in jail causing them to feel ashamed of that parent and of their background. The child may also be more inclined to turn to drugs or violence to deal with the absence of a parent; with one parent being incarcerated, there is one less person to look up to and to stear the child in the right direction. Families living in this part of the
country will most likely follow the same steps as its previous generations unless changes are made. It is very difficult to lift one's self out of poverty and as we learned in class, it is difficult to moved upward on the socio-economic latter. People
living in areas with high incarceration in the future will most likely have to deal with drug use, violence, teen pregnancy and low education level attainment.
Louisiana is lacking organizations and funding that can help individuals move out of poverty. As we learned in class, it is very difficult for someone who comes out of prison to find a job. It will be difficult for this person
to not only support themselves but their family as well. It is important to create opportunities for ex-offenders to be able to get a job so they can be financially independent. It is also crucial to have support programs for children who have a parent that is incarcerated. If nothing changes in the future, ex-offenders
will most likely fall back in the same bad habits and return to prison.
The issues of race and class definitely intersect with incarceration rates. According to lecture 50% of the prison population is African American, 25% are white and 20% are Latino. The majority of these people are also usually from a lower class. There are people from higher social classes but they do not represent the majority. I think this is because people from lower classes tend to have less opportunities available to them which may make them more prone to engage in activities that can lead to incarceration. The children of the people who are incarcerated are definetly affected by the fact that one of their parents is in jail. I believe that the short term affects are the fact that raising the child will be so much more difficult because the parent who is not in jail will have to take on all of the responsibilities. I feel that the long term affects are more severe because that child may have some resentment towards the parent as a result of them not being there throughout their life. The child also may make some poor decisions in life as a result of lack of proper guidance. The parent who was not in jail may not have been able to spend as much time with them since they had to work more in order to support the child. Overall the child may have some emotional issues surrounding not having their parent there. The implications for the future of families is that the majority of them might be single-parent homes. The fact is Louisiana has an enormous portion of its population in jail which means all of those inmates that have children are being raised without their presence. Other implications would be that families might need to be more watchful of the children in their families particularly the teenagers so that they do not get involved in anything that could lead to them being incarcerated. Louisiana is lacking a lot of proper resources that could possibly mitigate this situation. For example good housing, education and jobs particularly for low-income families. If some of these people that are incarcerated now had had access to better resources it is possible that a lot of them could have chosen better paths in life and not ended up in jail. Clearly with the lack of resources people have become very desperate which is what may have contributed to some of the decisions made that lead to incarceration. The relevant cultural factors are the idea that in general women tend to take care of children more across various cultures. Throughout history it is not uncommon for their to be female headed households. Despite the fact that now a lot of men are incarcerated; culturally women are used to this situation and in some cases very capable of dealing with it. The relevant structural factors relates to what I stated before about how since there is a lack of resources available it pushes people to do negative things. Overall the point is people have to live and support their families. If they feel like they don't have any other choice ultimately they will do what they feel they need to do in order for their family to be able to eat. If there were other feasible options for them than maybe they wouldn't have to engage in activities that will lead to them being incarcerated.
It is always harder on a child when both parents are not present. This is because the resources are limited to help that child develop, whether it be economic or emotional support. However, unlike children from divorced households where the child might be recieving chld support or have visitation rights, more incarcerated parents are taken at least 100 miles away from their children's homes. This leads to a lack of parental involvement and can hurt a child emotionally. Looking into future families, this poses a big issue. There has yet to be a successful reform program put in place in the US so children of incarcerated parents will most likely end up in jail as well because there was no positive role model to tell them not to. As long as this continues, the cycle will never break and incarceration rates will rise across the United States.
There is indeed a very clear relationship between race and incarceration, race and class, and thus class and incarceration. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2,531 blacks were incarcerated in 2004 per 100,000 in the population (about 2.5%) while only 393 whites were (less than half a percent). Additionally, as blogger 329 so elegantly stated, about 90% of those incarcerated are living below the poverty line at the time of arrest. As such, racism and discrimination based on socio-economic status seems to run rampant in this country. Immediately following one’s imprisonment, the loss of a parent’s financial contributions to the family, as well as an exit from paid work to fulfill family responsibilities, leads to a decline in family income and a child’s well-being. Unstableness within the family is also a potential threat to the children of incarcerated parent(s), and communication can be severely limited drastically affecting the parent-child bond. Of course, both structural and cultural components play a role in Louisiana’s situation (as well as other places like it). Structurally, an adequate educational system is lacking while culturally, positive role models and appropriate extra-curricular activities are missing. Instead, many impoverished youth may turn to drugs and violence. Blogger “Milan” was correct in saying that many young people feel forced to care for their families. Such a burden will ultimately drive a person to take whatever means are necessary to provide Maslow’s basic needs for their loved ones.
Like all the other posters mentioned, I too believe that race and class are directly correlated with incarceration and poverty rates. We have discussed the effect of SES and how that too correltes with race. I believe that those with a lower SES are easily drawn to 'illegal' methods of earning money. They also seem to be the most targeted when it comes down to crimes such as possession and distribution of drugs.
In general, any child will be affected in the short and long run when missing one or both parents. They will obviously question where their missing parent is and some will even feel as though it is their fault as to why the parent left or is not around. For children of incarcerated parents, they could very well begin to believe that if they hadn't been so much of a financial burden than maybe their parent wouldn't have had to hustle or steal, etc. In the long run many of these children will find their parents to be role-models and unfortunately follow in their footsteps. I assume a lot of children with incarcerated parents grow up with crime and drugs around them. When that's all you are around your entire life, that's all you begin to know. Financially, we have discussed the struggles of a single parent. They will be at a financial and economical disadvantage which would lead them to harsher social environments. For families living in this part of the country the implication is that you or someone you know could easily be the next one added to the high statistic of those incarcerated. With such a high statistic I am led to believe that Louisiana is generally a poor state or that there is just a tremendous income gap. Regardless, there clearly aren't sufficient educational resources that allow for residents to progress and move away from crime related 'jobs'.
I agree with hoopin and .235 that race and class intersect with respect to this issue. Individuals from low income backgrounds and minorities tend to have higher rates of incarceration. Individuals from low backgrounds tend to live (but not always) in neighborhoods and environments that are plagued with drugs and violence, which leads to higher rates of crime and ultimately jail sentences. The incarceration of parents greatly affects children in the short-term and the long-term. The incarceration of a parent affects children in many ways. Incarceration not only takes away a child’s parent but it also takes away their role model, emotional support, financial support, love, and other essential things that children need in order to grow and thrive as human beings. Children who grow up with their parents incarcerated may never see their parents and if they do the reunion between parent and child will not be until 2+ years. With this being said, children grow up not knowing their parents; which leaves a gap or shall I say a hole in their lives. Also, if one parent becomes incarcerated the other parent will become a single parent. This not only puts a strain on the individual emotionally but financially as well. Instead of living on two wages families are forced to live on one. In addition, if a child grows up with a single parent and that parent becomes incarcerated than they are forced to move in with another family member or sadly if that is not the case they are forced into foster care. This not only leads to feelings of abandonment but also risky behaviors when the child matures.
The state of affairs in Louisiana implies that incarceration rates will continue to rise. The incarceration rates also imply that children will continue to grow up with parents who are incarcerated, which will lead children on the same paths as their parents. Without a strong role model or family figure children are destined to follow in the wrong path. I know of many individuals who have lost a parent due to death, divorce, and other circumstances. Although these individuals are able to thrive they still feel a sense of abandonment, low self esteem and sadness. These individuals are able to survive and succeed because there are other role models in their lives who can take on the roles of mothers and fathers. If most of the residents are incarcerated who is going to act as a role model /support to these children who are left behind? I agree with hoopin that Louisiana should have mentors or mentoring programs in which children can have role models and important figures in their lives. Government officials and the state of Louisiana need to take this into mind. Instead of incarcerating individuals they should enforce programs in which individuals can stop engaging in activities which land them in jail. We cannot only blame the individual and say that they don’t have the proper education. Sometimes there are not resources in schools to teach children what is right from wrong. In addition, parents can teach their children how to “be good”, but if they go to school in which they are always surrounded by drugs, violence and crime it is nearly impossible to stay on the right path. We need to find ways in order to clean up neighborhoods and create schools that are conducive to learning and a better life.
I completely agree with .346 when they stated that the “majority of the incarcerated are low income African Americans “. It’s been known that in Louisiana crime flows like the alcohol down there. The greater population in Louisiana is African American so it should come as no surprise that the numbers of blacks being incarcerated is sky rocketing. When it comes to the children of the incarcerated, their current and long term lives are seriously affected. For example, when a parent of a child becomes incarcerated it is a huge change in the home and to the family since that parent will no longer be around. The child may suffer from emotional and mental scaring and their education will often times suffer since they won’t have as much of a parental support system encouraging them to do well and succeed since them themselves lacked that. As for the future families, I believe that if the crime and incarceration rates continue to grow and our children continue to live below average lives that our future generation will know how to properly function mentally or socially with the serious lack of nurturing, stabilized, well off families to model after.
Race and class intersect with incarceration because when dealing with incarceration, it usually involves minorities and lower class individuals. In addition, lower class individuals are mostly minorities. And children are affected the most when their parents are incarcerated. This is because children need their parents at a young age to have their love and comfort. Also, having a grandmother or a guardian take care of a child is different than their mother being their for the child. Mothers will care the most for their baby and will give the child more care than any other guardian or sibling could give to the child. In a short-term affect the child with an incarcerated parent would not have the bond he or she needs to grow up. For instance, a child who does not have the proper care and holding of a mother could grow up with a lack of emotions and even have negative behavior. These would be under long term effects on the child. A short term effect is the child might sad he or she does not get to see the parent everyday like other children might do. The implications for the future of families living in this part of the country is the children will grow up to have no role model and no parent figure, maybe even for a majority of their lives. As a result, the child might be raised badly leading to alcohol abuse, substance abuse, teen-pregnancy, and could end up incarcerated themselves. There are many resources that could be lacking in Louisiana. However, i think the most important resource they are in of is support from others. There are many educated individuals that can help educate and teach individuals to live better lives. Also, i agree with .346 where these individuals need an organization that could help find full-time jobs and teach them skills that will help them in the long run. These organizations will be filled with individuals that are willing to help and well educated individuals. Culturally, the individuals need a good role model that everyone can look up too in order to live a better life. Structurally, there needs to be more organizations or agencies that could help support and educate individuals to look for jobs and teach the importance of raising their children.
I agree with what .235 said. Those who are being arrested are most likely of lower SES (which only facilitates the countries poverty issue) and also are often minorities. Perhaps education and the availability of job training could discontinue these trends. Otherwise there is no reason why families in future generations would bypass this devastating issue. Given that 9 % of kids live in households where parents do not work, the children must not have any role models and anyone to look up to. They see that their parents are out of work for extended periods of time, and believe this is a way of life. Many of these parents are involved in substance abuse and domestic violence. It is clear that these issues need to be corrected before these individuals can get jobs and keep themselves out of jail. If there are not structural and cultural factors that support these individuals to stay off drugs and out of jail, they will not be able to succeed. Cultural factors would include family members who are good influences to support them, and structural factors would include drug treatment programs, and job training.
It is clear that children are negatively affected by the incarceration of their parent/s. The article mentioned that they may suffer from depression, and socially as well as emotionally withdraw. They are more likely to engage in delinquent behavior if they have a parent who is incarcerated. If one or both of their parents is in jail, this will have an economic effect on the child.
Race and class are two significant factors that play a large role in the connection between incarceration rates and rising rates of child poverty in general. I completely agree with .235 with people in lower economic statuses not being able to afford bailing their family members or friends out of jail which contributes to such a high incarceration rate within lower classes. More specifically, incarceration rates are more prevalent in lower and working classes rather than middle and upper whereby minorities make up the majority races. Lower classes tend to have higher incarceration rates because people living within this socioeconomic status are unable to afford some necessities in life for survival. As a result, they may resort to stealing, performing illegal activities, or other crimes to acquire such means for survival. This attributes to rising rate of child poverty because children living in these situations will usually grow up without a stable source of income provided by both parents due to the fact that one of their parents may be incarcerated. Consequently, children living in poverty with an incarcerated parent will experience both short and long term effects. For example, these children will not have a strong parental influence in their lives and may become deviant in terms of short term effects. From this, long term effects could include their own incarceration with history repeating itself. I believe that incarceration rates will continue to rise in future families if social policies, such as welfare and Medicaid, are not reformed in such a way that they decrease the poverty rate that is steadily growing. The cycle and trend of incarceration will therefore continue onto generations to come. Louisiana lacks resources in funding and policies that will greatly prevent these children living in poverty from incarceration. Moreover, relevant cultural and structural factors include lack of solid educational and social programs that greatly contribute to the issue of incarceration as well as child poverty.
Race and class certainly pertain to this issue. Lower income class usually leads to less educated, which means lower chances for a high paying job, thus making a life for a family is hard to do with just a high school diploma or less.
The 2005 New Orleans Times report states "Parental incarceration takes an obvious toll on children, which typically reveals itself in lower self-esteem, depression, emotional withdrawal, and disruptive and delinquent behavior. This is all very true but the main factor that is most important overall long-term effect is the effects of trauma and violence on the child. Thus this may lead to an intergenerational cycle or crime where the child follows in the footsteps of the parent. As stated disruptive and delinquent behavior may occur, thus a short term effect of aggression may find its way into the child due to lack of support that they could have gotten from the other parent. These children need a positive role model in their life to help them deal with the parent-child separation due to incarceration because the implications for the future is that this cycle of single parent households due to incarceration will continue on from generation to generation. The Article states “It also has a significant impact on their economic well-being.” Thus is respect to this class, and tieing family theory’s class care giving is unpaid labor. If the child’s parent or parents are in jail most like a relative will help raise the child like a grandmother etc… most likely the financial resources are just not there and thus the child grows up poor, and the cycle continues. I believe Louisiana is lacking the resources of proper job training and such programs for parents who get out of prison and perhaps a center where topics such as parenting skills, alcohol/drug dependence/abuse can be discussed and a support group is formed. Structurally, the center I just discussed would be a great example of how the system can help out. Culturally, an emphasis on education and removing the notion that being a drug dealer is okay to get by is a prime factor.
381S10.346, You are completely correct. Most crimes are drug related and I wish the government system would put aside all the money used or jails/prisons and create a proper program for the incarcerated as the recidivism rate just does not show any results; currently, 67% of prisoners are re-arrested within 3 years of release according to my socy book. (Leon-Guerrero, Anna. 2009. Social Problems: Community, Policy, and Social Action. 2nd ed. Forge Press.)
I know that Southeastern Louisiana is a predominately African-American area. Since these areas are low-income, they do not have the best schools or grocery stores. Majority of families are female headed households. Regarding this issue of incarceration, race and class do play a significant factor. People who live in low-income areas with more access to crime and delinquent activity are more likely to end up in prison. The people who are arrested don't have any other ways to make ends meet, in their eyes, and usually take risks in illegal activity and more than likely to get arrested and go to prison. Minorities and low-income families have more financial problems and are unable to make ends meet.
The children are highly affected by parents who are in prison. Even if they do not talk about how they feel, it definitely will show in their behavior. Girls are more likely to find a father figure somewhere else such as a pimp or an older boyfriend. Boys are more likely to commit drug offenses and have sexual encounters at early ages. In the short-term, children may be affected at school while observing other children with two parents. They may feel insecure or have low-self esteem because they are different. They may even perform lower in their academics. In the long-term, they themselves may be single parents or become incarcerated. According to the newspaper article, Louisiana has the highest rates of incarceration in the United States. In perspective to the future families living in this part of this country, it may be hard to avoid getting locked up depending on the individual, the resources they have and the neighborhood they live in. Children regardless of their class or race can have equal opportunity of engaging in delinquent behavior and arrested because of peer pressure. Young and older adults would have to keep themselves busy with a job or community involvement that would steer the other way of incarceration.
Statistics prove that two parents are better than one, but it really depends on the individual, how the custodial parent raises them and their environment. Louisiana will continue to have high incarceration rates if community leaders do not step in and pull education programs, job trainings and workshops that will intervene in the lives of incarcerated families. The custodial parent is in need of support and the child needs to be uplifted. Money in general is lacking in environments such as Louisiana. Some children know that they will never have anything or believe they will never move out of their environment and when no government is paying attention to their communities they experience that withdrawal too. Positive role models needs to exist among neighborhoods so the children can have something to follow. structural factors that exist are the very things I mention earlier about not having any funds to cover this school or local recreation centers. Since there is not enough money, children have no where to go after school and they engage in drug dealing and that increases the likelihood of getting arrested and crime activity. Cultural factors consist of when their is only one parent in the home, the child lacks attention from a single parent who has to work all day and therefore leave their child unattended.
I agree with .235 in implementing an Aid in schools for children who have been left behind. I believe it is very essential that the needs of these children who have failed academically be met immediately. It is not their fault that in what is occurring at home and unfortunately they are victims. Someone who is consistent and persistent needs to be attentive to their needs so they can succeed like the other children. Not only do programs regarding left behind children need to be implemented but parenting programs and workshops need to be created as well. The process of helping the child succeed will only be successful if it continues in the home. Parents who are left raising children without the help or support from a spouse may be more likely to experience stress and become overwhelmed. Responsibility is left on their shoulders and it takes more time and energy trying to raise children than usual. The reason why it is important in how involved parents are in the child’s life is because it can cause the child to follow in the same footsteps as the incarcerated parent. If there is no love and support being shown at home and being felt by the child, then they are more likely to find that somewhere else.
Race and class parallel with parental incarceration for many reasons. The chance of a minority ending up in prison is approximately six times higher for African Americans then a Caucasian. According to lecture, out of 93% of all incarcerated parents 50% are African American, 25% white, and 20% Latino. Class has an effect on individuals because of the amount of education and opportunities a person may receive. A long- term effect on children, from having incarcerated parents, is psychological damage. Incarceration may become a norm in their lives and something they eventually expect to experience. Short term effects children may experience is having difficulty establishing relationships with their parents. They often end up losing a father or mother figure, when parents are incarcerated. Implications for families in this part of the country are that their chances of incarceration are higher. They have less resources and people to help them out of living in “ghettos”. If this continues future generations will have the same fate as the individuals living there now. In order to provide for many families in Louisiana attention needs to be focused on betting the education and job opportunities. Cultural factors include female headed households. With many fathers behind bars, it is up to women to be the main provider. Structural factors are the lack of resources provided for these families. This includes proper housing and a focus on better the community; by providing recreational centers and early head start programs children are taught the importance of education.
Race and class parallel with parental incarceration for many reasons. The chance of a minority ending up in prison is approximately six times higher for African Americans then a Caucasian. According to lecture, out of 93% of all incarcerated parents 50% are African American, 25% white, and 20% Latino. Class has an effect on individuals because of the amount of education and opportunities a person may receive. A long- term effect on children, from having incarcerated parents, is psychological damage. Incarceration may become a norm in their lives and something they eventually expect to experience. Short term effects children may experience is having difficulty establishing relationships with their parents. They often end up losing a father or mother figure, when parents are incarcerated. Implications for families in this part of the country are that their chances of incarceration are higher. They have less resources and people to help them out of living in “ghettos”. If this continues future generations will have the same fate as the individuals living there now. In order to provide for many families in Louisiana attention needs to be focused on betting the education and job opportunities. Cultural factors include female headed households. With many fathers behind bars, it is up to women to be the main provider. Structural factors are the lack of resources provided for these families. This includes proper housing and a focus on better the community; by providing recreational centers and early head start programs children are taught the importance of education.
I must agree with blogger 235; race and class definitely play roles in respects to incarceration. Lower class and minorities such as Blacks and Latinos are more likely to be incarcerated due to their lack of access to opportunities and resources. This deprivation places many of them in poverty, which could possibly lead to a life of crime as a means to survive. This may involve violence or drug distribution/usage. Of course, these acts are illegal and subject to jail time. Incarceration places a great burden on the family. For one, if the incarcerated parent was bringing in income, they no longer are doing so, which places the family in risk of living in poverty or further in poverty. This can arouse stress or depression in children who have to adjust to the absence of their parent or parents because they lack the emotional and financial support that was once present. They may possibly have to adjust to a new way of living (new neighborhood; new family structure; new family members; etc.). Over time, children tend to show a shift in behavior and performance. Academic success declines and delinquent behaviors become more common, placing the children at risk of facing incarceration themselves.
Louisiana has the highest rate of incarceration amongst all of the states of the U.S., and does not show much signs of improvement. A major reason for the high rates is high unemployment rates. Many parents don't hold jobs, or they don't have full-time employment. Some just don't want to work, especially those who may become accustomed to and dependent on drugs. But many wish to work, but can't find employment. Like blogger 235 said, more programs should be designed to help struggling parents, especially single parents who may have financial troubles. These programs can help such families with financial planning. Most importantly, I think more jobs need to be created...jobs with good pay and benefits! I also agree with blogger 303 in stating that education lacks. Some programs may need to be devoted to informing people, especially children about the appropriate paths to take towards success and even inform them about consequences of illegal acts and the impact of incarceration. Although many children can feel the impact, it eventually becomes a way of living for them, and they may not see much wrong with it. I also believe that such education can be installed through children in the home through family. Parents should tell their children what's right and what's wrong in our society and take measures to encourage their children to journey down the right path. However, many parents are undereducated themselves; some of them may have experienced the impacts of incarceration when they were younger and may not know any other way of living. Once again, that's where programs can come into play and educate the parents as well.
Similar to what “hoopin” said, the issues of race and class intersect with incarceration in the United States because statistically, lower income minorities fill the prisons. Incarceration of parents has a big negative impact on the children in many ways. Short-term effects include the negative emotional impact of not having a parent around and being exposed to the bleakness and sadness of seeing what a jail is like. There is less chance that the child will be properly cared for while the parent is incarcerated and with decreased amount of care the child may suffer in terms of academic achievement. In the long term, it is hard for the parents to find jobs after coming out of prison in order to make a living to support the children. According to the article, history of incarceration is one of the four employment barriers that is very difficult to overcome for these lower-income families (the others being substance abuse, domestic violence, and depression). Behavior-wise the article states that the child will display lower self-esteem, depression, withdrawal, and delinquent behavior. The future of families living in areas with high incarceration rates like Louisiana will show that the children living in poverty will become trapped. High incarceration rates of parents leads to higher dropout rates, teen pregnancy, and engaging in risky behaviors like drug abuse. The generation of children who are living in poverty will have a very hard time improving their socioeconomic status as adults. Structurally, Louisiana lacks good-paying jobs with health care benefits. Without proper jobs, people are stuck in poverty and no way out. This leads to a very sad future for the next generation who had to grow up in poverty and very little opportunities. Culturally, there is a history of racial oppression, which contributed to the high numbers of low income Blacks in prisons.
After reading most of the comments before mine I would have to say that I agree with the posters before myself. When it comes to incarceration rates, no matter what state you reside in race and class are directly correlated. I say this because most of the incarcerated are low income people of the African American race. This affects children in the short term because they are being raised in the single parent household. Also, if a child has a parent behind bars their communication is very slim because it is hard to visit a prison everyday, and letters can be written along with phone calls, but the length of time in-between responses can be long and phone calls can be limited, but the biggest problem with this is that it ends up to be a long term problem because no relationship can be built between child and parent; so they don’t have that dual parental role/presence that helps mold children and keep them productive and headed in the right path. With the incarceration rate being so high in this area the implications on family’s is that most of the time it would never be a complete family setting because one or both parents are incarcerated which would lead to the cycle being repeated. Looking at this vicious cycle that has been created in Louisiana I would say it is because of lacking education culturally. If they had improved education they wouldn’t commit some of the crimes and run with the crowd that put them behind bars. Structurally I would say that if there were more better paying jobs in the area or more jobs that allowed ex-cons to be productive they wouldn’t re-enter the cycle and reduce the amount of people behind bars. Also, if they had some programs, as .329 said; such as programs that show ex-cons how to be productive members of society and that there is a better way to go about things than the way they were going this wouldn’t be as big a problem as it is now.
Race and class correlate with incarceration and poverty rates. It is very difficult for people in lower class and who are minorites to support their families and especially if they are in jail. There families are also in a difficult struggle because they are missing a person that can provide for them. Children are affected by having a parent in jail because they do not have someone to support them, they are forced to struggle living in poverty because their parent is unable to give them everything they need. They are missing a chance to experience having a parent. They grow up not knowing who their father or mother and maybe both were. This creates a problem becausethey dont have anyone to look up to. Families living in theis part of the country are likely to continue living in poverty. Children dont have the proper support which can lead to consequences like poor education, teen pregnancy, they could get involved with drugs. These children may grow up and have families of their own and be in the same situation. Lousiana needs to help the children who have parents in jail. They need to help them finacially and emotionally. These children are not at fault and they deserve a chance to succeed. Programs need to be created to help these children have a chance to get out of poverty.
Race and class definitely plays a major role with the issue of incarceration and families. Typically, individuals of a lower socioeconomic status and minorities account for the population of people that are occupying the prisons. As a result, a good number of people within the prison system have children that can possibly be affected by the situations that their parents are into. Some short term consequences for the child is that depending upon the time of the incarcerated parent has to serve effects the time limit that the children will have to be without their parent. In addition, the children have to alter their lives because of their parent/s being incarcerated. Moreover, there are long term consequences as stated by blogger 329, children experience the emotional detachment that they will lack while their parents are incarcerated. Although the children are probably being taken care of by others, they can never get the time back that they missed while their parent/s were incarcerated. In addition, they may view the lifestyle that their parents lived as acceptable and may make being incarcerated acceptable within their own lives. If the cycle is repeated it can then lead to the children that are experiencing it now to be incarcerated and if they have children, expose them to the same lifestyle that they lived as well. Furthermore, the cycle of poverty can perpetuate itself as well. The amount of single families will continue to rise and a decrease in the financial resources is likely to increase as well. Moreover, the families involved will always be affected by their parents being incarcerated, and as stated within the article, since Louisiana accounts for a large proportion of people that are in the prison system, there should be a variety programs that provides them with the proper readiness tools not only for the individuals that are incarcerated but also for the families involved. For the individuals, more training and educational opportunities while they are incarcerated can assist the individuals to be more prepared upon their release to help families to remain out of poverty or to get them out of poverty. In addition, providing the family members that are directly affected, specifically, the children with more programs that enable them to cope with situation more appropriately to increase more desirable outcomes for the families involved. In terms of the cultural and structural aspects that coincides with this issue. The programs that will be implemented for the families and individuals involved is to the government’s involvement that gives people more opportunities such as more employment opportunities, however, it is also up to the individual to make sure that they themselves do not end up in the prison system.
Race and class definitely plays a major role with the issue of incarceration and families. Typically, individuals of a lower socioeconomic status and minorities account for the population of people that are occupying the prisons. As a result, a good number of people within the prison system have children that can possibly be affected by the situations that their parents are into. Some short term consequences for the child is that depending upon the time of the incarcerated parent has to serve effects the time limit that the children will have to be without their parent. In addition, the children have to alter their lives because of their parent/s being incarcerated. Moreover, there are long term consequences as stated by blogger 329, children experience the emotional detachment that they will lack while their parents are incarcerated. Although the children are probably being taken care of by others, they can never get the time back that they missed while their parent/s were incarcerated. In addition, they may view the lifestyle that their parents lived as acceptable and may make being incarcerated acceptable within their own lives. If the cycle is repeated it can then lead to the children that are experiencing it now to be incarcerated and if they have children, expose them to the same lifestyle that they lived as well. Furthermore, the cycle of poverty can perpetuate itself as well. The amount of single families will continue to rise and a decrease in the financial resources is likely to increase as well. Moreover, the families involved will always be affected by their parents being incarcerated, and as stated within the article, since Louisiana accounts for a large proportion of people that are in the prison system, there should be a variety programs that provides them with the proper readiness tools not only for the individuals that are incarcerated but also for the families involved. For the individuals, more training and educational opportunities while they are incarcerated can assist the individuals to be more prepared upon their release to help families to remain out of poverty or to get them out of poverty. In addition, providing the family members that are directly affected, specifically, the children with more programs that enable them to cope with situation more appropriately to increase more desirable outcomes for the families involved. In terms of the cultural and structural aspects that coincides with this issue. The programs that will be implemented for the families and individuals involved is to the government’s involvement that gives people more opportunities such as more employment opportunities, however, it is also up to the individual to make sure that they themselves do not end up in the prison system.
Race and class both intersect this issue of incarceration. More blacks get arrested than whites and lower class people get put in jail and stay in jail. When the person gets out of jail they are most likely going to be poor and end back up in jail. When a parent is incarcerated they can not see their child as often as they should. Most of the time they can not make any physical contact to show their love and appreciation. The parent can not be the security base the child needs. The child needs someone to look up to and to teach them right from wrong. It is very hard for an incarcerated parent to do this. The child will always have to go to the parent in jail, verses the parent going to the child like it should be. Short-term, the child can get depressed and get confused as to why life is like this. Long-term, the child can learn that his parent was never there and didn’t support him. Most of the time the apple does not fall far from the tree, and the child will follow in their parents foot steps. If the child has nothing to look up to and just thinks jail is a reality of life, the incarceration percentage is going to keep rising. With more people incarcerated, people start to think it isn’t as bad as it really is. They begin to not be scared of jail and not learn from the mistakes that could put them in jail. Children who grow up with a parent in jail can start to get angry very quickly and can grow up to continue to be this way. I strongly agree with .341, if incarceration of parents doesn’t decrease then this vicious cycle will continue and just get worse and worse. .341 also mentioned creating a policy that will allow incarcerated parents to be in their children’s life. I think this would work well in Louisiana. Jail has become a way of life culturally and structurally. Most of the people in Louisiana do not know any other life but the crazy and twisted on that they are in. Their environment or structure supports their life style with many places to find drugs and being able to get weapons almost anywhere. This life is easy to live in Louisiana because everything around them supports it, structurally and culturally.
I think the issues of race and class intersect with the issue of incarceration rate. It seems like certain race and class are more prone to fall into poverty and engage in domestic violence, criminal activities, substance abuse. I think the reason for this is because certain groups of people have long been trapped in the cycle of poverty and that they are unable to access to resources that would help them get out of the cycle. Thus, there are more likely to face financial hardship and this may lead or tempt people to engage in criminal activities, thinking that is the only option they have for them.
Consequently, there will be more children living without their parents due incarceration. Parental incarnation affects children in many ways, whether it is short term or long term. Due to their parent’s absence in their lives, they cannot receive a proper care or support and they are more prone to live in poverty and face the economic hardship. Thus, they are more likely to suffer from lower self esteem, depression, emotional withdrawal, and disruptive behavior. In addition, the lack of supervision and good role model (usually the parents) can have a negative impact on the children. It is more likely that they may fall behind in school and engage in criminal activities and follow the same step that their parents took and repeat the vicious cycle again.
When these children grow up and become parents, they may not be able to get good examples and their children may be at risk of repeating the same cycle again, unless the government intervenes with this matter and provide resources necessary such as education and welfare programs that would assist them to get out of poverty.
I believe the incarceration and poverty issues exist more prevalently in Louisiana due to the lack of resources. Besides the fact that there has been a history of high rate of incarceration in Louisiana, Louisiana lacks a proper system that would educate people or let them aware the importance of getting out of the poverty trap, and they also lack in providing support groups or systems that would encourage them to find other ways to support themselves and their family besides the criminal activities. Moreover, they also lack a proper program that would help children whose parents are incarcerated to get proper care and assistance. Limited access to jobs also seems to play a huge role in unemployment in Louisiana and prevent people from getting out of poverty trap.
Cultural factors that lead a high rate of incarceration would be that there since many people have seen their acquaintance being incarcerated, they may see it as a problem and they may find it a better idea to be incarcerated rather than suffering from a severe poverty and destitute.
Structure factors may be the lack of resources such as programs that would assist them to help fight against poverty or programs that would educate or equip people to be ready to get jobs. Or, they may just lack good education system and does not do a very good job training and equipping children to go to college and get a degree, which would help them get jobs that would pay them better.
Like many other bloggers mentioned, I agree that the main reason why Louisiana has high incarceration and poverty rate is because of the lack of resources. Since a large proportion of people are incarcerated or living in poverty level, it is not a personal problem of each individuals, but an issue that the government should step in to solve this problem. The government should focus on providing programs that would assist children whose parents are incarcerated and suffering from poverty. Also, programs that would assist people to get a job and help them stay away from engaging in criminal activities would be helpful in reducing the incarceration rate in Louisiana.
When examining incarceration it is imperative that sociologists examine race and class as major aspects in the issue of incarceration. The majorities of the people who are incarcerated are minorities and are within the SES of poor to working class. Children are tremendously affected emotionally and mentally when a parent or guardian is imprisoned. Children who are subjected to living without a parent are dependent on other family members who may not be able to support them financially. Millions of children are moved into foster care and eventually drop out of school and follow the same path as their parent(s). Children are subjected to looking for mentors outside of their homes and this may lead to looking up to the wrong person. I believe emotionally children who have parents in jail may result to using drugs, committing crimes and being violent. The future of families living in this part of the country are faced with poverty, teen pregnancy, high school and college dropouts, higher incarceration rates, increase in drug trafficking, single mothers, increase in death, higher welfare and Federally dependent programs. Louisiana may not have community outreach programs helping to prevent these implications. The communities may not have money to support these programs and the families who need them. The school systems in Louisiana need a new outline to help with problems such as incarceration and help to provide activities for children so they will not get into trouble. Some cultural factors contributing to this is the family history of incarceration and parents educational background. The structural factors are school systems, affordable housing, and no community outreach programs. The structure of the family is broken because families from generation to generation recycle previous behaviors of parents and grandparents and it is often hard to break the cycle when you have no outside guidance.
As we have learned in class, the rate of African Americans who are incarcerated is highest among other groups. Also, many African American males are more likely to be stopped and searched by police compared to any other groups. So African Americans are more likely to be incarcerated.
Being in prison itself will affect individuals in negative ways. Those who have been incarcerated will have very hard time finding jobs so that many of them are at risk of living in poverty. On top of that, many of children of incarcerated parents will suffer from not having their parents. This will influence children’s social and emotional development. In short term, children will experience crisis from losing their parent(s). We learned that boys are more likely to be affected when the fathers are absent from their lives. In long term, those children who grow up without father figures are more likely to struggle when they become fathers since they did not have any role models. I agree with 381s10.303 that the children of incarcerated parents are more likely than most to follow the same path as they create terrible cycle of a family not being able to escape the system. I think both structure and cultural factors are causing the poverty and the number of people being incarcerated. Louisiana was one of the states that had the highest rate of incarceration and poverty. In cultural aspect, people might have lower moral standard and there might be less social support from families or friends. Also, that might not know how to work their problems out. For instance, they might choose to live under the welfare system instead of working with the fear of not knowing how to be a good worker due to lack of skills and educations. In structural aspect, school systems might not be as good as other schools because of less funding from government.
According to the article, Louisiana is getting worse in infant mortality, high school dropouts and teen rate. The problems might be due to not having proper programs that help individual to get out of poverty trap. So it was not surprising to learn many individuals are experiencing the poverty in their daily lives. Consequently, taxpayers paid 4% lower than the national average in 2008.
To reduce incarceration rate and improve those children of incarcerated parents, the government should pay more efforts in improving childhood education, raising Earned income tax credits and Supplemental nutrition assistance program.
In the response to .234, I have to agree the issues of race and class intersect with the incarceration and poverty rates. Therefore, it is not surprising to learn Louisiana, a state predominately African American has high poverty rate. In a majority, people who are being arrested are lower class and minorities who probably do not have the means to be able to support their families from jail, which leads to harder financial difficulties to the family members that are left behind with single parent or guardian households . Moreover, children who come from incarcerated family will be affected in short term and long term. In the short time, the child might feel the emotional and social affect of watching a parent in jail. In the long, the child will be faced to grow up without a parent, which can affect the child drastically depending where he or she live. In the case of Louisiana, where the poverty rate is high, there are many problems, the child will be forced to face these challenge without the help of parent. Moreover, due to the lack of role model in the child development, most children who come from incarcerated family are more likely to repeat the cycle. Likewise, without no assistance program for this kids and families, this dynamic will keep on repeating to the next generation, since obviously the school system in Louisiana is awful that these children faith is directing to incarceration.
Overall, the state of Louisiana is fixable since it structural problem. If Louisiana wide system of law and polices were directed to help these children, such improvement of the local school system and implementations anit-poverty programs, there will be a lot progress in Louisiana.
The main issue that intertwines poverty rates and being jailed is race, ethnicity and socioeconomic class. People who are within the lower classes of society tend to represent the majority of people who are in incarceration. Once a major presence in the family is jailed it leaves a great void in the family dynamic. As .235 said this leads to greater financial difficulties and a greater burden put on the remaining family members. This has a greater impact on children because of there inability to care and work for themselves at their young age. With the parent being incarcerated this lends itself to lower success rates at school, delinquent behavior at home and a severe introduction into prison life with regular visits to the parent involved.
This can also psychologically affect a child because of the sense of abandonment by the parent. The child can feel as if the parent has deserted them and that they do not care about their well being anymore.
Thid can lead to unwise decisions on behalf of the child who is lacking the proper leadership and attention that they need in their lives. The cost of a family member being incarcerated is a lot more than symply losing a loved one. IT has many different effects on many different levels.
When it comes to incarceration I believe that minorities who have a low socioeconomic status are targeted more than others. This correlates with the demographics that the minorities are subjected to as well. Unfortunately due to incarceration, can have short and long term effects on ones family. A short-term effect consists of the absence of a one contributing partner, which can lead the other partner into debt or even poverty. This can affect a child by stripping them of the luxuries they were once used to, and now things like food and clothes are scarce items. A long-term affect on a child would be emotional anguish. A child might not be able to turn to his/her incarcerated parent when they are in need of advice or guidance. The child may also lead into drugs and alcohol because there aren’t many good role models setting examples to steer them away from what is harmful for them. Families living in a part of the country where there is high use of drugs and alcohol will follow in the steps of generations in the past. If a child is subjected to violence and illegal activities as the only mean to survive, then they will most certainly follow the path of incarceration. It is very difficult for one to move out of poverty when their predecessors have already set those standards for them. Louisiana lacks a social structure in the sense of education and programs to help individuals to stay out of jail. Instead of just incarcerating individuals Louisiana should encourage and motivate its citizens to stay away from illegal activities and to create a successful life for themselves. The cultural issue is there aren’t enough mentors in the state of Louisiana that can guide individuals away from illegal activities (government officials); the structural issues are lack of institutions (schools) that can teach children how to be successful and to stay away from drugs and violence.
Race and class definitely intersect with the poverty rates and people that are incarcerated. There are manypeople who are getting arrested who are low-income and minority group. Children can be affected in many ways. The absence of aparent of a parent can have a huge affect on a child becuase a child may think that if their parent is in jail, what hope is there for them. This can lead the child down the wrong path there are no good examples set in the child's enviornment. Children might result in behavior and follow the path of their incarcerated parent. The implications for the future of the familes in this situation can be detrimental. The parent in jail might not be able to support theri family and if there is another parent, it can be extremely hard for him or her if they have a low-income job. This can lead into a plethora of financial issues and families may fall into poverty. Future generations can also suffer from this because if the previous generation is in poverty, there's a big chance the next generation will remain in poverty. Mothers that give birth in poverty result in more people in poverty. I think the lack of resources that are missing in Lousianna are resources that help families who have parents in jail. If Lousianna has a program to help these families, the poverty rate would decrease. The relavant cultural factors are that the same people get targeted or are being put in jail. Lower calss minorities are leaving their family members behind who probably can not provide for themselves. Structural factors are that since there is probably only one parent in the household, the parent may have to get a second job to support the family. Older siblings may also have to take a parent-like role and help take care of younger siblings. The older siblings might help out like buying groceries, cooking and cleaning.
Race and class certainly play a role in the connection between increasing rates of child poverty and incarceration rates. Majority of the individuals who are being incarcerated are minorities, as well as those having low-socioeconomic statuses. These factors definitely related to each other due to the simple fact that individuals of low socioeconomic status are more likely to live in an environment surrounded with high levels of violence and crimes. With the incarceration of a parent, this can have both short term and long term effects on children. According to The Times- Picayune, “Parental incarceration takes an obvious toll on children, which typically reveals itself in lower self-esteem, depression, emotional withdrawal, and disruptive and delinquent behavior. It also has a significant impact on their economic well-being." Therefore, this displays the negative effects that can affect the child’s life while the parent is incarcerated and the effects that affect the child’s behavior and life in the future. The implications for the future of families living in this part of the country are rising rates of poverty, teen pregnancy, teen death, high school dropouts and various other factors that would affect the family unit. One major resource that Louisianan is lacking is organizations that will assist individuals who have been incarcerated develop adequate job skills for the job market. With such organizations, individuals are more likely to succeed in a society where it is easy to fall back into their negative ways. Structurally, beneficial organizations are missing in order to educate and aid individuals at high risks of following the wrong paths in life. In addition, culturally, positive role models are needed to set examples for the youth and demonstrate that success in life can be achieved through hard work and not choosing the easy way out. With this I definitely agree with .346 when stated, “African Americans need to take pride in being successful and making it out of poverty than glorifying the way of life as a “norm”.” With more individuals displaying more determination in the way they live and becoming successful, others are sure to follow.
Issues of race and class intersects with incarceration when you think about the race and class of those people incarcerated. Minority groups and those living at or below poverty are overrepresented in prison. Children are greatly affected by the incarceration of a parent. In the short-term that child will lose the nurturing of that parent, not being able to see them or talk to them often (or at all). Also, having a parent in prison means less economic resources for the child. Having a parent in prison takes away a role model so the child has one less person to look up to. In the article “LA: Growing Child Poverty Linked to Incarceration of Parents” Casey describes children with parents incarcerated to have “lower self-esteem, depression, emotional withdrawal, and disruptive and delinquent behavior.” In the long-term when these children grow up and have a family of their own they may not know how to parent. For example if a young boy’s father was incarcerated as he grew up and he never had a real father figure, when he gets older and has a child of his own he may not know how to be a father. Another long-term affect would be that once a parent gets out of incarceration it is difficult for him or her to re-enter the workforce.
The future for the families in this part of the country does not look promising. It is close to impossible for these people to get out of poverty. According to the Kids Count reports the deep-south has always been far behind the rest of the nation when we look at things like death rates, and school drop out rates.
Employers’ not hiring those with a history of incarceration addresses the structural aspect. It is mandatory and employers have the right to ask their prospective employees have they ever been convicted. And more recently some jobs have also been asking if you were found guilty to a misdemeanor (which could be something miniscule like a speeding ticket). The system is cracking down on crime and adding longer sentences on to crimes, which increases the rate of people incarcerated and decreases the number of people being released from jail or prison. So it could be safe to say that in addition to getting criminals off the streets the system is getting parents out of homes. From a cultural point of view you could consider ones individual action or decision that caused him or her to enter the prison system.
Rehabilitation resources are lacking in Louisiana.(To get those with incarceration histories a job). There are no programs that are readily available and working with families. As the article mentions we only see disincentives.
Race and class intersect with respect to this issue because it is shown that minorities and low income individuals are more likely to be incarcerated and may lack the resources to get themselves back up into the labor force. Incarceration of a parent can definitely have a negative impact on a child in the short and long run. For example, it is shown that in Louisiana where there is a high percentage of incarcerations, there also exists high percentage of children in poverty. The incarceration of a parent affects the child being emotionally as well as financially. The child with an absent parent is more likely to live in poverty since there is only one parent contributing financially to the family. It is also shown that children are more likely to be depressed or have behavior problems in school. Like the article stated, the implications for the future of families living in parts of the country where percentage of incarcerations are high include a high number of children living in poverty, depression, emotional withdrawal, low self-esteem, and disruptive behavior. This definitely affects the future of families seeing that these children living in poverty and emotional isolation are the future America. The resources that are lacking in Louisiana may include counseling for these children who are left without a parent. Counseling can definitely be helpful for the emotional well being of the children. Another resource that is definitely missing is funding for the public assistance programs, which are designed to help families in poverty. More money should be given to these families with an absent parent to help the number of children in poverty decrease. A structural factor to this problem is the lack of programs or funding for these programs created to help these families. More programs to help incarcerated families need to be created to help these individuals get out of poverty and make a better future for their family. I agree with 356 that “positive role models and appropriate extra-curricular activities are missing.” Programs need to be created to help teens deal with problems instead of turning to violence and the “streets.”
Norma Trejo
Blog # 3 The Real Pass Through
The real pass through laws, are affecting families. Since 2009 that these laws came to be in effects the money children receive are minimum. The money I not directed allocated to the children. The money is use for enforcement to this laws and allocating the money. In a few words the money is going to other things or job administration for these laws.
I think politicians are resistant to changing law because they have to compromise themselves to helping poor families and then the regular population will ask them where the money is going to come from. So they do not want to appear as social reformers that means helping the most needed. I will guess that they do not allow all child support money to pass through to poor families because in a way that money serves to cover other areas of expenditure, if that is so, that is not right because they are taking the money that belong to the children, and these children are the one who need that money.
Norma Trejo
Blog # 3 The Real Cost of Prisons
The issues of race and class play a significant part of incarceration and in Louisiana the majority of the population is black. So black have the disadvantage of race and status in that community. And the statistics indicate that this states has the highest population in jails, sadly, children are not being raise by their parents. This problem will have serious implications for future generations because children are not receiving good modeling of family life.
The primary sources for the families in Louisiana are jobs, and aggressive social programs to help these people. The relevant cultural and structural factors are many:
Young parents need to have the parental skills for raising children in a healthy environment, intervention in school to help these children. Creation of business is a small part as a community but providing education and other resources is the whole component to better the life for these children in Louisiana. This article reflect the disparity of distribution of wealth in this country where other places rank high, there are others that are low in education, economic, status, etc. And, states that rank low have the highest incarceration rates.
I agree with Milan. A lot of what they mention is about how people within the prison system are people who lack a good home life and don't really aspire to better things and they sometimes commit crime in order to get something they may not have or just to survive the life they live. Same thing goes for family members, it has a direct affect on them and they may later on turn out the same way but hopefully they would aspire to be something more. But the younger the child, the less they understand, and when they get older they may act out due to not having the parent within the prison around which leads to more people incarcerated. I believe that with these happenings in Louisiana growing, it could possibly just get worse and worse and our families of the future may no longer be what we need or expect them to be, but the things they may see may lead them to do bad things which can lead to prison and in turn ruin what a community is or was. The structure of the community could fall apart because people that have bad tendencies could then convince children of good tendencies to do bad things which can in turn hurt the community. Culturally you would hope to cut back on the incarcerated race of African Americans since they have the highest rate. But instead it may just get higher if they join one another more often then not. So many other things can cause it to get worse but I think we put faith in people to make the right decisions, I just hope we do so for most before it is too late for some.
Like blogger 341 said, lower class individuals are more likely to be linked with a minority and because of this reason and topic we are talking about, race and class do intersect with incarceration rates. Because people in lower classes do not have available funds to support their families, there is no money to help when there is trouble which is a big cause in my opinion for why many people go to prison. Doing something illegal becomes a way to support your family in lower classes and the consequences only hinder the family involved and make it much harder on the community as a whole to rise above poverty. Children are definitely affected by incarceration because the parent becomes an absent person that is no longer able to financially provide for the family and also is not there to be a role model or help with daily tasks. The burden of supporting the family relies on the other partner making the household primarily a single parent household. Long term affects are really shown through lower self esteem and delinquent behavior as said in the article.
In this part of the country, I do not see how the future of this region could be dramatically improved because incarceration is the beginning of a snowball effect. If the incarceration rates do not decrease, families will remain to be structured with one parent, jobs will be harder to obtain because people incarcerated will not be qualified with the modern, necessary skills, and with the lack of available jobs that people can qualify for, poverty will remain a vital part of the Louisiana. Families that exist in the future will be forced into poverty without asking for it because the government will not have the funds to lift the entire region out of poverty from the constant increase in incarceration rates. Louisiana lacks monetary resources to help families in poverty, and also lacks educational resources that could help people become re-socialized after incarceration as well as children who currently have a parent incarcerated to promote education as the foundation to thriving in life.
Issues of race and class intersect with poverty in Louisiana and high incarceration rates because there is a disproportionate amount of low-income and minorities that are represented in poverty. There may be higher rates of a certain racial group incarcerated and considered low-income families. Children are affected by incarceration of a parent because they may experience an absentee parent, have poor communication skills and bonding time, poor academic performance, and in the long-term carry these outcomes that may lead them to drug abuse, involvement in criminal system and even slip into poverty themselves.
For families that are living in Louisiana it may be difficult to move out of poverty if all they experience and know drug use, incarceration, and unemployment. It may be a continuous cycle within generations of that family, so hope to succeed may be minimal. I agree with blogger 357 because there are many factors that affect moving out of that part of the country, it may take a longer time and low-income families may struggle during that process. Because this area is highly affected with domestic violence, substance abuse, teen pregnancy, high school dropouts it can get harder for families to avoid coming across these factors in the future. Some resources lacking in Louisiana is prenatal care, sex education prevention and awareness. Clinics and community outreach programs can also be implemented in Louisiana so residents can have programs to receive care for their families. For example, to lower low-birth weights and teen pregnancy, there can be after school programs or sex education courses as well as prenatal care for pregnant women.
Issues of race and class are very relevant to the issue of incarceration. According to the lecture on incarceration African Americans are more likely than Whites and Hispanics to be incarcerated. Even after the war on drugs use in the 80’s had portions that were racial motivated. People were sentenced to longer sentences from crack than they were cocaine. It is a class and race issue in itself because crack predominately found in lower income areas because it is cheaper to make. Those low income areas are usually populated African Americans. In the “Amazing Grace” book we saw that Mott Haven had plenty of drugs and people who were incarcerated. The neighborhood was mostly black and many of the jobs in the area involved working in the prisons.
Children are adversely affected when their parents are incarcerated. In the short term the children can experience depression, sadness and anxiety due to the absence of one of their parents. Over a long term period the relationship between the child and parent can be almost non-existent, which can cause issues with the child if the parent is released. The implications for families living in this part of the country are they should expect for there to be a lot of homeless people in Louisiana because poverty is a cycle and individuals do not easily get out of it. Louisiana is lacking in programs to help the children and families of those who are incarcerated. Because most of the people that go to jail are fathers there is a culture of single mother households which also leads to increased rates of poverty. The structural issues include the fact that if an individual needs welfare there is a lifetime limit on it. So if the other parent is incarcerated for a long time their spouse might be kicked off of welfare before they are out which means they will be without assistance.
Issues of race and class intersect wit respect to this issue because the majority of people incarcerated are minorities from low income households. Due to this low income, these incarcerated parents do not have the ability to support the family from jail, which in turns leads to more stress on the family outside of prison. This makes it incredibly difficult for the parent outside of prison to raise the children. Also, if the person in jail is a single parents, the child now has no parents to take care of them and will be put in foster care as blogger hoopin mentioned. Moreover, not having a parent in the home can effect the child’s development. In the long term, these children are socialized to think that this is normal and appropriate. Therefore, they will not be present parents to their children in the future just as the parents weren’t present for their childhood. Louisiana lacks the proper school systems for educate the local youth. According to the article, the south has always been behind in education and employment due to racial oppression.
Class and race are factors that cross in with incarceration and poverty rates regardless of the state you are in. Minorities are known for being in low SES and because of this those families are the ones that are least likely to be able give their families enough support from prison. this affects the family in many ways. Not only will some families be left behind with single parents but some are families that have many children. These children will be affect because one parent will be absent and their role may not be fulfilled. The children can be affect in short term because maybe their peers can fin out at school and they will be made fun of, or feel let out that they don't have both parents currently in their lives. In the long run it can affect the child either negatively or positively. The child may become rebellious and agree from the situation and may end up in jail as well by following the parents footsteps. On the other hand, the child may learn and see that life is too short to mess up. The child may want to do better and make their families proud by succeeding and proving others wrong about their family. In regards to future families that will live there, I believe that there will be a trend. Some of these issues are passed on through generations and i feel that there is a lack of educations in these families. Children need proper role models and mentors that will provide them with guidance to a brighter future. These children need to be told that they have options, they just have to work for them. Having support such as mentors will also give children hope for their futures. There should also be programs in schools or community centers to provide children with emotional and psychological support.
I agree with the comment posted by 354, children are going to be greatly affected. They will have a parent missing and that will cause them to have lack of roles and different support. I agree that it is a continuos cycle and that it will be difficult for families in Louisiana to rise out of poverty especially if they have a parent incarcerated. there should be more programs to support families that are left behind, emotionally and financially.
The rates of incarceration seem to be a vicious cycle. It is hard to say which came first, incarceration or social disorganization? It seems like those in lower class communities are unable to escape from it because of the "broken windows" theory that disorganization leads to more disorganization. Also living in a lower class community many people use means like drug dealing to get by and this is commonplace. There are not enough places to provide good education to attempt to break this cycle. THe children of these incarcerated parents are at a greater disadvantage just because they have one parent missing from their life. They come from families that are broken and many times cannot be fixed. They might even have to provide for their families in some way again by turning to quick cash means like drug dealing. It seems like the only way one could break this cycle would be to remove oneself from the neighborhood. How one might do this is an entirely different story because it seems unrealistic for someone with no money or motivation to pick themselves up and away from all they know and what's left of their family.
As a college student I sometimes find myself being dependant of my parents. Not just for financial issues but support and many other things. I wonder if I am like that at the age of 21, I know children around the age of pre teens and under really depend on their parents. The problem is they are not always available. The issue of parents being incarcerated is big. Whether it is for a short period of time or a long one it still has the same effect on the children. A major cause of this comes from cases where families live in low income areas and parents cannot provide for their children. They will go through extreme measures to provide. They can even resort to breaking the law. Although that seems bad, that turns out of one of the best case scenario explanations for that. Many times drug addiction is involved and children are abandoned. IN urban low income areas drug abuse is a big issue and children are either exposed to it or their parents are gone from a using addiction.
As far as affects on the children there are many mental and physical issues that children face. They have a very unstable living style because if your parents are back and forth out of prison then they are not fit enough to keep you. If there aren’t any family members willing to take them in then the foster home is where they end up. Mentally their cognitive learning and development will slow down. Without a stable environment and parents to enforce rules it will thrown them off onto the wrong path. Long term, if they grow up as adults and have lived through a childhood with no full time parents then they are likely to be the same way with their children. This could start a unwanted trend as to how we raise our children and the value we place on a meaningful childhood would go down the drain.
In the future we need to implement some human services or propose a program that keeps parents in their children’s life no matter what the case may be. There should be amending laws for child support laws and visitation laws. It seems like those laws are strictly for financial reasons when children need much more than that. They need a role model, nurture, emotional support, and someone to show them right from wrong.
Issues of race and class intersect in regard to the incarceration of parents since a disproportionate number of non-white and lower SES level individuals are placed in prisons as compared to other groups. Children are affected in a significant way when one parent is not in the picture, especially under the circumstance of incarceration. A child will not receive the necessary guidance from a role model if that person is behind bars. It is also best to maintain the healthiest modes of communication on either side. The implications for the future of families living in this part of the country are dynamic. There will be an emphasis on extended family members being involved, as well as building communities as support systems in the situation. Parents will seek partners to serve as mother or father figures for their children. Whether a neighbor or trustworthy friend, the parent can rely on a person to help be an example for the child. The present resources that are lacking in Louisiana are funds and strong social programs. These can help children gain habits that will enable them to avoid the pattern that may lead into incarceration. Strong mentors can help guide young kids away from the troubling habits, and towards a more positive outcome.
I agree with what 381S10.346 said. They were right to say that the children suffer most, when a parent is incarcerated. I feel that it is in fact more traumatic for them because they do not know how to deal with it and express their emotions. The issue of race and class intersects because I feel that there is a correlation between the two of them. Race impacts the economic status, with many of the impoverished people being African American or Hispanic. Some studies have also shown that minorities tend to get longer, stricter punishments from the court system. Children are deeply affected by the incarceration of a parent. Kids may think of it as mom and/or dad are going away for a short or long period of time. I believe that a short-term prison sentence has less of an impact on the children. They know that their parent is going away, but they also have the hope that he/she will come back. Therefore, the children may be shocked to see their parent leave, but they have the day of return to look forward to. This situation becomes more difficult with a longer prison sentence. The child may believe that they have lost their parent forever. Not knowing how to handle this loss, the child may act out, or turn to a gang to complete their broken family.
The implications for the future of families living in this part of the country are not good. Filossa’s article says that The Kids Count Book tells us that Louisiana is second only to Mississippi with the worst economy, and they are also second to last in other areas; such as child death, single parent families, and households with parents that do not have full time employment. These statistics are very troubling and they are likely the reason for or result of the high incarceration rate. These children may suffer from lower self-esteem, depression, emotional withdrawal, and disruptive and delinquent behavior, which would make for a difficult adolescence and transfer into adulthood. It would also perpetrate a cycle, putting their children through similar events that they went through as children. This could carry on for many generations, until change occurs.
Unfortunately, Louisiana lacks the resources to make these changes. The economy is too poor to implement the programs that are needed to change this situation. There are structural factors that cause problems for the population. Two of these factors are a poor school system and low wages. Children do not value the education that they are receiving, and they are dropping out. Dropping out of school could also be culturally motivated. If they live in a single parent home, then the student may feel the need to drop out and find work to help the family financially. They do not realize that this is doing more harm than good.
In agreement with .346, issues of race and class intersect with respect to this issue based on past evidence showing that a large number of those who are incarcerated tend to come from low-income families and be of African American descent. Low-income households are more likely to fall into poverty and live in an environment with increased exposure to crime, drugs, gangs, and other things that put families at risk. Because of the higher at-risk exposure, adults are much more likely to be incarcerated by falling into situations or being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Children are significantly affected by the incarceration of a parent both in the short-term and long-term. In the short-term, children will be experiencing the loss of having a parent in the home and feel sad or angry. With a parent being absent, children will feel a traumatic separation and loss. The long-term outcomes have greater effects on the children, including poor academic performance, drug abuse, a much higher chance of the children themselves getting into criminal activity, and falling into poverty. The emotional suffering that the children are going through can carry out for quite some time and cause behavioral, emotional, and social problems that lead to these long-term outcomes. Children may start to act up or even withdraw completely, getting involved in the bad things that surround them in the environment that they live in. The implications for the future of families living in this part of the country is that nothing is being done about the situation to help these families out, whether it be due to a lack of resources or the lack of information that is being put out there to make it known. I completely agree with .346 when he or she states that “families will not have a chance to better oneself if no one steps in and help the children, the mothers and the fathers realize that they are needed not only in their households but in their communities as well.” Families cannot only think about what is affecting them, but look at the bigger picture and do something about the fact that it is the community in which these problems come from. Unless they want the same problems affecting their future generations and being passed down, they must act to help the community and eventually the families who live in the communities, right now. The kinds of resources that are lacking in Louisiana that have created a situation where this dynamic can exist are ones that assist people in finding and being qualified for jobs. The article states that many parents don’t hold full-time jobs and, as well as teenagers who aren’t even attending school but also don’t work. Louisiana needs to create programs that will train people to have the skills to find jobs and make sure that they are deeply involved and consistent with their employment, reducing the chance of them being out on the streets and getting incarcerated. However, there are cultural and structural factors that make it difficult for the people in Louisiana to make this possible. Structurally, Louisiana is lacking in resources that will lift these families out of poverty and get them trained and involved in the workforce. Culturally, incarceration and poverty might be so prevalent in their communities that they may feel like there is nothing more that can be done to help them, and continue to live out the way they are living.
Class and Race are often associated with incarceration and poverty as a whole. It is very difficult for people of lower class to support their families and if their also a minority it is even harder to support their families, but it is increasingly more difficult if one of these families members is in jail. This due to the fact that one of the majority bread winner within a particular family whether it be the mother or the father is in prison and cannot provide for their half of living. Due to this the families are affect greatly especially the children. They are affected because they are missing that other support figure in their life and when they are seeing their family members struggle to make it to the next paycheck it put a major toll on the mental and emotional well being of the child. Families living within in this part of the country are still more likely to continue living in within their current poverty. Their children don’t have the proper support which intern can or will lead to bad judgment making and lead to poor consequences because of this; lack of education, involvement within the drug community ect. But Louisiana is currently not the only state like this in terms of needing to help the children with incarcerated parent there are other states out there as well. If federally funded programs where made to help the children and families this crisis nationwide might not be such a big problem.
I agree with the previous posters that incarceration can be linked with race and class. We all are aware that the majority of incarcerated people are of low SES or minority classes. Children are affected in many ways when their parents become incarcerated. In the short run they demonstrate emotional withdraw and disruptive and delinquent behavior. In the long run children face depression and continued low self-esteem. The absence of a parent emotional affects the child in negative ways and also hinders their development. Single parenting is hard in itself but when you are forced into it losing a secure attachment, the child has even more negative effects. Future families living in Lousiana should expect the same effects. Future families that are made up of children once involved in this situation will continue the cycle. Most likely they will fail to form secure attachments to their own families as well. The marriage will probably fail and the attachment between that person and their own children will not be secure and positive. Obviously there are exceptions but growing up with an incarcerated parent will most likely lead to perpetuating cycle of negative effects on the family unit. In order to prevent this as well as the continual increase in incarceration Louisana should implement programs to help the families affected and the incarcerated individuals as well. Programs should be implemented for job training and job placement so that these new single parent households can find secure work and incarcerated individuals can be trained to re-enter the workforce. Counseling services and mentoring groups are examples of programs that would be useful to children of incarcerated parents.
Race and class intersect with the number of people incarcerated and the low level of well-being in a similar way. African Americans have a higher incidence of being below the poverty level and are thus more likely to be incarcerated. Low levels of child well-being are said to be found more when families are below the poverty line, and with African Americans being more likely to be below the poverty line, they are also more likely to have low levels of child well being.
Children are affected by the incarceration of a parent in the short term by the immediate loss of the parent (should they be actively involved in the childs life). In the long run, they may never learn who their parent is or receive any type of help throughout the process of raising the child.
Since Hurricane Katrina, much of Louisiana is still struggling to get their lives back in order, especially those of the lower class. With so many lower socioeconomic individuals working to get their lives back, they often run in to trouble and my become incarcerated. In order for the numbers to go down, the government should focus more on rebuilding some of these areas so that there will be more jobs and homes for these people.
Considering the lagging nature of the deep south, Louisiana's continuous descent into widespread poverty, high incarceration rates, and declining child well-being is understandable. Blogger Nikki made an excellent inference regarding the cyclical nature of poverty and incarceration on family generations. If a child is without positive attachment to a stable adult, he/she is likely to engage in delinquency. Juvenile delinquency is often linked with negative adult behavior that results in future incarceration.
Race and class are often linked when it comes to access to resources and opportunity. For example, there is a high ratio of African-American men in the prison system because they have little access to funds and opportunities that will help them climb the social ladder. As a result, the structure of their environment pushes them to consciously engage in illegal activities to survive. This survival pattern results in increasing numbers of convicts with low socioeconomic status filling up the prison system. Families are thus broken by incarceration and the mandatory minimums separate families for years. Children with incarcerated parents will suffer from "low self-esteem, depression, emotional withdrawal," which contributes to their "disruptive and delinquent behavior." It is difficult for the next generation to pull itself out poverty if their role models are the convicts of this generation. As a result, it is necessary for the government to allocate funds that will relieve sentencing and provide support for families of convicts. It is also important for Louisiana to consider reentry programs that will reduce recidivism. By providing support services that encourage ex-convicts and the next generation to develop positive and productive work ethic, Louisiana may expect fewer future offenders.
First off I completely agree with the other statements. I feel that majority of minorities are those who are caught in low-income families and also those who become incarcerated. I feel that child well-being is extremely low because of this issue of incarceration as well, having no parent to mother or father the child the way a parent is supposed to. Having parents in jail or continuing to have issues with the police, are most likely not working or being the bread-winner in the family. This child well-being is an issues becuase parents are not financially responsible either. There is a lack of parental guidance in the home and a lack of leadership in how to make money and raise a good family. I do not necessarily think that this is just the families fault, In order to change such things going on in a state, the state needs to take more action. There is a certain stereotype that may go with the state of louisiana. The state can postitively affect and change the incarceration rate as long as those living in poverty by reaching out to each family. Because children are being left behing once their parent goes to jail, they are also passing on the poverty rate from each generation. There should be more outreach to the children because it is not their fault. They should have more opportunities to get help to get out of poverty and not just be forgotten about because their parents are incarcerated. There should also be programs that reach out to the children in order to help them understand the importance of family and not follow in their parents footsteps. Avoid falling into poverty and make better financial and mental decisions to reduce the risk of falling into poverty or incarceration.
The article “Growing Child Poverty Linked to Parent Incarceration” does not mention the race group being affected but mainly in Louisiana the African American make up most of the population. Louisiana is ranked as a state with high poverty rate. Incarceration in Louisiana is one of many reasons why poverty it so high. The incarceration of parents increases the rates of unsupervised children and teens raising the chances of risky behavior involvement. If incarceration rates continue to grow in Louisiana and through out the US many families will be affected. Having a father in jail, which is considered a the main breadwinner or a mother in jail will increase the poverty rate of children and families. For parents that have the desire to work and exist poverty will have a difficult time becoming employed with a history of incarceration. For children growing up without parental supervision must likely will follow in the parent’s footsteps increasing rates of poverty. Louisiana is in need of after school programs that provide academic and emotional support for families with parents in jail or prison. Also for parents recently released from incarceration programs that teach individuals work ethics, provide GED programs, and assist parents find employment will help decrease the poverty rate. Places in Louisiana where the poverty level is high have a lot to with incarceration, high school dropouts, and tee pregnancy. Growing up in a violent neighborhood with high levels of depression and individuals with low self-esteem due to poor living conditions impact the poverty rate in places like Louisiana. I believe that if organization rally together to provide cleaner and safer neighborhoods with after school programs the incarceration rate will decrease leading to a decrease in poverty as well.
I have to agree with .209 with the fact that the article did not mention any indication about the races being incarcerated or even living in poverty. They also did not indicate about the average family size affected by incarceration or which classes were being detained in jail. The simple mention of families living in either the suburbs or rural areas does not really give the reader much insight into the types of families being affected. The reality of having a criminal record is that it hinders an applicant’s chances of getting a job regardless of their race or class because they are all labeled criminals and considered a threat or liability to a company. Besides the obvious mentions of how children are affected like depression, emotional disruption, low self-esteem etc., it is important to understand that people adapt to their environments and also shadow their care givers. For that reason many children that are raised with one or both parents in jail will most likely follow in the same footsteps and end up in jail leaving their offspring to repeat the cycle. The children may sell drugs to make up for the lack of financial resources in the household, run the streets and get involved in devious activities because of lack of supervision or simply commit acts of violence or crimes because of the anger they have inside because they miss their parents. It is important for these children’s to have mentors and activities that they can engulf themselves in so that they can break the cycle and create hope for their future as well as their offspring’s future.
It is sad that in our current times race and class have a strong correlation to things such as incarceration and poverty rates. It is no secret in our country that minorities tend to have a lower rate in terms of SES and a higher rate of both poverty and incarceration. There are both structural and cultural reasons for these occurrences. We tend to pass along many things to our children. Unfortunately in areas such as the south and Louisiana this has lead to an occurrence known as a culture of poverty. In this culture it almost becomes acceptable for things such as incarceration to occur throughout the lifetime. Many people in the groups lifetime such as fathers and families have known someone to be incarcerated and it takes away from the shock that would occur in an upper class family. Incarceration also leads to poverty by the incarcerated parent not being able to work and support their family. In fact incarceration of an individual is roughly $50,000 dollars a year. This same amount if given to a family is about 2.5 times the poverty line. Families that live in poverty see a government that is more willing to incarcerate a family member than to cut a check so that the family that is trying to survive can put a roof over their head and food on the table.
In agreement with blogger 235 race and class are interdependent. Most of the times it is the low-income families who are caught in the system of incarceration. But that is usually because there is a lack of resources in impoverished communities that aid in people finding jobs, and advancing their education that would spport them in making a reasonable income to support their families. With the high rate of men in jail it also takes away from the family stucture, and the development of children who have to grow up with out their fathers around due to prison. That is why we continue to see the vicious cycle of children who do not have their fathers in their lives not fair off as well as other families that have both parents present and active. Most of the time, low income individuals that are being incarcerated did not do crimes that can be viewed as malicious. They are being procesuted for crimes that are as small as getting caught with "weed".The individuals are then placed in prision which cost alot to maintain and have direct access to food, water and a roof over their heads while many other families outside of prison are fighting to maintain it. It is sad to see that the government pays more attention to crimes that are not as harsh than to families who are struggling to make ends meet day by day. I believe that the system then become very hypocrtical.
As we have learned in class, statistical data has shown there is significant differences among racial and class groups of incarcerated parents. According to the lecture “Dislocation of family life: Military deployment, incarceration and reentry into communities” given on May 6th, among state and federal prisoners with a child under the age of 18, 50% are African American, 25% are White, and 20% are Latino. Poor African American and Latino men selling crack cocaine were largely effected by the War on Drugs – in 1997, the chance of being imprisoned during your lifetime was 1 in 25 for White men, 1 in 6 for Latino men, and 1 in 4 for African American men.
Children with an incarcerated parent are likely to experience a range of emotional, behavioral, and financial consequences. Firstly, I think that the age of the child, the parent’s sentencing length, and the quality of the relationship between parent and child prior to incarceration play a role in how much a child will or won’t suffer. In the short-term, children might experience anger, grief, and/or depression. They could become disinterested in school, resulting in dropping grades, withdrawn from classmates, and/or bad behavior. In the long term, I would imagine that children with an incarcerated parent would have a general sense of “loss” of a parent. But, it is how they choose to cope with that loss that could positively or negatively impact their lives. Some might choose to channel their frustrations into a sport or seek therapy, while others could turn to drugs, alcohol, or violence. Families with an incarcerated member will also suffer financially because of the removal of one contributing income, which could push them into poverty.
I think that families from Louisiana are likely to continue a vicious cycle of incarceration if there is no intervention, where members from each generation in a family “do time” in prison. From a cultural perspective, children who are raised in a certain environment are likely to repeat those behaviors because it has become a lifestyle. I would assume that a child who is raised by a parent who is a drug user/seller would be much more likely to engage in the same behavior when they become adults than a child who was raised in a family that strongly discourages drugs. From a structural perspective, there aren’t enough support programs for families coping with an incarcerated member, as many posters have mentioned (235, 329, 346, etc.). I think this problem might have a chance of being corrected if the future generation of criminals – present-day children – are targeted now. I agree with hoopin in saying the Louisiana school systems should be reformed. They should develop programs to encourage healthy and safe habits, like becoming interested in a hobby, participating in a sport or club, developing a positive self-image, and creating goals and dreams for oneself, which will give children a reason to take pride in themselves and teach them to stay away from negative influences. The community could also offer family counseling and support groups through local schools, churches, and community centers.
Race and class intersect with the rate of incarceration, because most of the time it is individuals in low-income families that are incarcerated, and we learned in class that certain race are more likely to be incarcerated. All three of those factors are linked together. There are a lot of rural areas in the South, and we learned that rural areas have some of the highest poverty rate in the United States. The reason being rural areas lack certain resources, and in these communities people have a harder time finding a job. Overall, impoverished communities lack job opportunities and have higher rate of gangs, and drugs.
These families that have one or both parents in jail have a huge impact on the children. Families where a dad might be incarcerated, the mother would have to fend for the family, which means that she would have to work to support the family. Single parenting families have higher rate of poverty than a family with both parents. These children usually grow up without their father or mother, and lots of times these children do not get the nurture and education needed. This continues this vicious cycle of children growing up without their parent. These children experience short term effects such as depression, and emotional withdrawl. Some long term affects are lower self-esteem, disruptive and delinquent behavior, and has a huge impact on their economic well-being.
This vicious cycle of incarceration in Louisiana and in other states in the U.S. will continue if nothing is done to stop this cycle. From a structural perspective, there can be more support groups/ programs to help these families. From a cultural perspective, these children who grow up in these kind of environment are likely to repeat this pattern because this is their lifestyle.
I feel that there can be a lot that can be done to stop this cycle. Louisiana should start creating programs within the state for low-income families. By providing programs, and educational classes that teach responsible decision making. I agree with 320 that creating support groups and counseling programs to help families that want and need help can make a difference.
I agree with Shukriyah82 that there is a huge correlation between the issues of race and class. Louisiana had a huge problem when Katrina hit and one of the reasons people thought they lacked help was because many people were African American. This resurfaced when I was reading the article because I thought about the many low socioeconomic African American living in LA. Incarceration can affect the child negatively in many ways, because there is a hard choice to be made. The choice is choosing if the child should be able to visit their parent or keep the parent out of their lives until they are out of incarceration. Short-term affects are probably not as bad as long term affects. If the sentence their parents are facing is short excuses can be mad to the child about why the parent is not there. Although if the parents are gone for a long time, the child may question about why their parent is not here and hold a lot of resentment. In the statistics it showed that LA had higher rates then the national average. Many people assume that people incarcerated don’t care about their children, but many of them do they are just trying to find the best way to protect their children. Structurally it may be hard for people in that low socioeconomic to be able to find a job which may lead them to get into trouble leading them into incarceration.
People in a lower class usually are the ones who are more likely to be incarcerated. They generally lack the funds to seek legal advice and are less likely to know what rights they have. As a result there are a disproportionate number of people from a lower class and from races who generally belong to lower classes, are incarcerated. Children with incarcerated parents are more likely to lack are greater risks for a number of things, dropping out of school, teenage pregnancy, living in poverty, etc. According to the article there is a high number of children and teenagers dying yearly. This could be linked to their parents being locked away and not being able to teach them wrong from right. A combination of that and living in already very dangerous areas, their predisposition to violence is higher. This is a cycle, which seems extremely hard to break. The only thing that has the ability to break this cycle is the willingness for change and a little determination. I believe that the children of today, if they survive long enough to become parents, the cycle will continue. They are likely to end up incarcerated themselves, leaving their children to fend for themselves; making decisions no child should have to. Also the children are exposed to violence at an earlier age, which could be an indicator that they may be violent, and ultimately end up incarcerated. I think that as a society we should help those in need out. Hopefully this will enable them to eventually help themselves into a better situation one day. Also it is evident these people are lacking education. Some form of education in today’s society is necessary to live a comfortable life. And hopefully these people being educated will enable them to make wiser decisions which will ultimately result in better familial relationships and a decrease in incarcerated people.
When it comes to incarceration and race/class it is easy to see the correlation and its connection to the minorities. LA's high levels of incarceration clearly are as high as they are because of the lack of resources as 307 pointed out. There are not many ways for these people to get themselves out of the life they have created for themselves. The connection between race, class, and incarceration is clear from what we have done in class witht he statistical information. But another connection I saw through the articles and class lecture is the lack of education. Many of those who are incarcerated find themselves dropping out of school and relying on their low paying jobs or even their hustling in the streets.
The children in these families who have parents who become incarcerated suffer in immense ways. As we have seen in class they develop an idea through social learning theory that violence and mistakes like being locked up due to this violence is acceptable. In the short term, these children will be confused and feel a lot of anger toward their parent. They will begin to feel as though the parents walked out on them or abandoned them. In the long term, they will develop modeling this behavior and repeat the cycle, possibly being incarcerated themselves. They will develop a rebelious attitude and not form attachments in intimate relations because a parent took that away from them at a crucial attachemnt stage as a child.
With the families living in this part of the country, we see a lot of negative effects. The hiring process with businesses in this area becomes one of the most affected parts of it because they may begin to screen who they hire and may especially want those who have not been incarcerated, which becomes a smaller number daily. This can lead to an economy that becomes less stimulated and more job openings than there are people to fill them. The community will develop a negative stigma because the numbers of the incarcerated grow, leaving families to lose a member who contributed to income. Poverty then grows. These are only afew implications that the community suffer.
Generations to come will suffer because they learn from their parents, who are not around because of jail time. LA lacks the resources that educate but more importantly the education resources that teach the importance of schooling as well as staying out of trouble. They need funding towards stay in school programs, but they cannot acheive this funding due to the amount of those who are in jail versus the amount of workers that are not.
Culturally, this area has become predominantly an African American area due to many reasons including the great migration years ago. This race and class minority have known nothing but poverty their entire lives, so all of the families remain uneducated and repeat the cycle. They know LA and nothing outside of it because of the lack of resources and funds to "get out" of the south. Structurally, families create traditions themselves and keep to them, never pushing their children to do better because they themselves were never pushed either and they know no better.
Overall, Louisiana's resources are in desparate need of a re-work. It is very clear through the statistics of those in poverty as wella s incarceration. LA is a state that has developed a negative stigma, and the minorities that run the area become that negative stigma because they have developed the poverty due to their porr education. It becomes a vicious cycle that must be stopped.
As with all other prominent social issues, especially those discussed in the sociology classes, ubiquitous on campuses nationwide, the race and class of many incarcerated parents is no huge surprise; categorically, the oppressed, incarcerated, or otherwise unfortunate are, more often than not, already impoverished and of a minority ethnicity. In our fair Louisiana, most incarcerated parents are African American, as according to lecture.
For incarcerated parents, family life is obviously different from parents who are not in jail. About 40% of fathers and 60% of mothers have phone or letter contact with children on a weekly basis; 1.5 million children have parents who are incarcerated, 3.5 million have parents on parole or probation, and around 5 million have parents who have been on supervision at some point. The majority of incarcerated parents have never had a visit from their children; 84% of federal inmates and 63% of state inmates are incarcerated over 100 miles from their residence.
In both the short term and long term, children whose parents are incarcerated suffer overwhelmingly negative consequences of their parents' malfeasances. In the short term, children can suffer neglect, low self-esteem, depression, uncertainty of care, emotional withdrawal, and delinquency. In the long run, these children are invariably prone to a canon of possible misfortune: domestic violence, drug abuse, teen pregnancy, habitual criminality, lasting emotional trauma, familial dissolution, lasting poverty, incarceration, and even death. In terms of the families that live in the midwest today and in the future that are already suffering these tribulations, only worse circumstances can follow. Structurally, these families are kept down by unfair economic policy, stringent drug laws, low employment opportunities in legitimate sectors, which is invariably mitigated by relatively facile employment in illegitimate sectors, and social stratification, to name a few issues. Culturally, these same families are prone to an inherent fatalism that comes with lifetimes, filled with misfortune after misfortune, continuous mistakes, and structural oppression.
This type of poverty is lasting and cyclical; it cannot be helped by merely pumping cash into Louisiana's socioeconomic safety net. Indeed, the future looks quite grim for many of these families.
I agree with the previous posts I have read. Race and class coincides with incarceration and poverty rates. Families where one parent is incarcerated are challenged both financially and emotionally. The incarcerated parent may not be able to financially aid the child, leaving the other parent as the sole provider. Being raised in a single-parent household can affect a child's emotional well-being. Even the most resilient of children may not be able to escape the predisposition for poverty. Louisiana, among other states, experiences the economic struggle of incarceration's link to poverty. The state needs to formulate a plan of action to provide monetary support to ease the burden placed on children. A reform program would fill in the gap where the parent is unable to provide for his/her child. After all, should the child suffer from a situation he/she has not had control over? A form of intervention is necessary for the children of a parent in jail.
Race and class intersect with the incarceration in New Orleans because it is a predominantly minority area and most of the people living there in poverty are minorities. The lower class is usually incarcerate more often and for longer periods of time and therefore this affects mostly minorities. There are also systematic differences in the criminal justice with relation to race and crime that affect the incarceration rates of minorities especially in urban areas. New Orleans also has a very bad rap when it comes to crime and people often perceive that it is very dangerous, and there are some statistics and date to prove that it is. Children are affected by the incarceration of a parent because they are left with an empty position of a parent and role model. Children are most likely left without a father and this has developmental consequences as well as emotional and intimacy issues. The implications for the future of families living in New Orleans and Louisiana are a decrease in dual parent households and an increase in dysfunctional families and individuals. Family life is broken and the role model is not set for the children in families with parents who are incarcerated, therefore a positive family life is unknown and might not be attainable. Louisiana is lacking a strong correctional system and police force. The police force has been corrupt for many years and this has led to an increased negative perception of the police and the correctional system on behalf of the community and increased hostility between the criminal justice system and its employees and the community. Many people hope that the new police chief will bring much needed change to New Orleans and hopefully this will have a positive trickling out effect on Louisiana as a whole. Louisiana is also lacking resources in counseling for families that are affected by incarceration and especially the children as well as reentry services that would help those released from jails or prisons with life outside of incarceration. The relevant cultural factors are a hostile mindset between police/correctional system and the community and a lacking motivation on behalf of inmates. The structural factors include a racially biased correctional system and the lack of resources and alternatives for people in the community to offer a life free of crime or a life after crime.
Race and class certainly are extremely connected to the issue of incarceration. Since ethnic minorities tend to be poorer on the average in the United States, there is a greater chance that an African-American or Latino will end up in prison. The reason that so many low-income people end up in jail is that there is not many opportunities out there for someone with limited education or a prior criminal record. Children are affected because they are forced to grow up without a parent, and in extreme cases two parents. The implications this is setting for future families is the example that it is normal to raise a family with a father behind bars and be to be forced to turn to another option like a grandparent or aunt/uncle. The resources that are lacking in LA include lack of stable education programs and the lack of quality jobs for those with a limited job background. The cultural factors is that this continues to exist because the example is set and then just seems to pass through the generations. The structural factor is that people are so often ending up in jail because they do not have the necessary resources to avoid a life drugs or crime.
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