Sunday, March 1, 2009

Are You As Smart As A Behavioral Health Professional? Parents in prison: what about the kids?

Question: Is the number of children with parents in prison insignificant and shouldn't be considered by policy makers when they make mandatory sentencing laws?

A: Yes. You do the crime,you do the crime. Offenders should have thought about the consequences of their behavior on themselves and their children before they committed their crimes.

B: No. Almost 2 million children in the U.S.A. have parents in prison who will at some point will be coming back home. The absence of a relationship with a parent in prison has a huge impact on that child's development.

C: Yes. Children should be kept away from bad role models.

D: Yes. When you consider the public safety, criminals should be segregated from society and their families are better off without them.

This is article #8 in a series on Are You As Smart As A Behavioral Health Professional?

For the correct answer, click on comments. While you're there leave a comment yourself.

1 comment:

  1. Correct answer is B - No. Almost 2 million children in the U.S.A. have parents in prison who will at some point will be coming back home. The absence of a relationship with a parent in prison has a huge impact on that child's development.

    The following comes from an editorial in Amercia Magazine published on March 9, 2009.

    According to the nonprofit Sentencing Project, 1.7 million children have a parent in prison, an increase of over 80 percent since 1981. Most such parents live in prisons that are more than 100 miles from their homes, and as a consequence half never receive visits from their children. That situation is counterproductive, since strong family and community relationships increase the chances of a successful transition back into the community.

    ReplyDelete