NCJ Number
223481
Journal
The Prison Journal Volume: 88 Issue: 2 Dated: June 2008 Pages: 179-206
Date Published
June 2008
Length
28 pages
Annotation
Extending research on crime and fathering, this study examined racial-ethnic differences in fathers’ engagement with their children.
Abstract
Support was found for hypotheses about contact with the criminal justice system, race and ethnicity, and father engagement that are more detailed and take a broader view of fathers and crime than past research. The findings provide important insights that build on prevailing theories of the effects of incarceration and other types of contact with the criminal justice system on the lives of fathers and children. The results demonstrate that contact with the criminal justice system, especially incarceration, is a life-changing event that not only affects the incarcerated individual but also has negative implications for his or her children. Evidence is clear that non-Whites are less engaged with their children on average, as are booked or incarcerated fathers. The negative effect of incarceration on engagement is worse for African-Americans than Whites and Latinos, and the effect of being booked is worse for African-Americans than Whites. Becoming a father is a major benchmark in adulthood. Little is known abut the relative importance of incarceration and other kinds of contact with the criminal justice system for father engagement behaviors or how these effects vary by race or ethnicity. It was predicted that the effects of incarceration on parenting would be especially damaging. This study examined the relationship between fathers’ contacts with the criminal justice system and the weakening of the father-child bond. Tables, appendix, notes, and references