Mass Incarceration and Family Disruption: Collateral Consequences for Children and Communities

Abstract

The United States incarcerates approximately 2 million people—the highest incarceration rate in the world—with profound consequences not only for individuals who are imprisoned but for their families, children, and communities. Western (2006), in ‘Punishment and Inequality in America’ (Russell Sage Foundation), documented that incarceration has become a regular life-course experience for low-education Black men, with approximately 60% of Black male high school dropouts in their early thirties having spent time in prison. This paper examines the sociological evidence on the collateral consequences of mass incarceration for family structure, child development, and community social organization. Drawing on natural experiment studies, panel data analyses, and community-level research, we assess the causal effects of paternal incarceration on children’s educational attainment, behavioral outcomes, and economic mobility, and examine how community-level incarceration rates affect social cohesion, collective efficacy, and political participation.