Fighting against

the collective punishment

for the actions of one

Statistics


Children of Imprisoned Parents and Their Coping Strategies:
A Systematic Review by Stephanie Heinecke Thulstrup and Leena Eklund Karlsson
Children of imprisoned parents have a two times greater risk of health problems, including difficulties in their environment, academic and behavioural problems as well as social stigma. Children’s coping strategies included maintaining distance from the imprisoned parent, normalizing the parent’s situation and taking better control over their lives through distraction, sports, supportive people and therapy. Worldwide, the increasing number of parents in prison has led to a growing public health concern about their children who are left behind. A comparative study in four European countries [3] found that children who had parents in prison had an increased risk of mental health problems, especially when children were older than eleven years. Parental imprisonment can be challenging and life-changing for the left-behind families, even though the children are innocent and often unaware of the parental situation [8]. It is very different from child to child as to how parental imprisonment affects them and how they experience this situation. Research indicates that children of imprisoned parents have a higher risk of future incarceration [10]. Inside the criminal justice system, the rights of children who have imprisoned parents are often unclear, as there are few written rules [1]. Children are at risk of being left behind because there are insufficient social welfare services, deficits in laws and policies, uncertainties about how to work with these children and insufficient protections for those who live in prison with their parents [1]. Children’s reactions to parental imprisonment can also differ by gender. Murray and Farrington [15] found that 71% of the investigated boys who had experience with parental imprisonment in their childhood, showed antisocial behaviors at age 32 compared to boys without this experience [15].

The Golden Thread:
Putting Family At The Heart Of The Criminal Justice System Centre for Social Justice
Common themes emerged in relation to families’ experiences of arrest, including: - arrest has the potential to traumatise family members - arrest can have a particularly negative impact on children families’ experiences of arrest can lead to mistrust in the criminal justice system



Ministry of Justice, Proven reoffending statistics quarterly bulletin, January to March, 27 January 2022. Ministry of Justice, Economic and social costs of reoffending: Analytical report. 2019. Page 10 Ministry of Justice, The Farmer Review: The Importance of Strengthening Prisoners’ Family Ties to Prevent Reoffending and Reduce Intergenerational Crime, 2017. Page
Lord Farmer argued that, given the high rate of reoffending (nationally 25 per cent) and its eye-watering associated costs (estimated at £18 billion per year), the needs of families should be prioritised in prison reform as ‘the golden thread’ running through the processes of all prisons.

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Funders and collaborators



Blagrave Trust

This campaign would have been possible without funding from Blagrave Trust. The fund aims to support young people who want to challenge and change unlawful laws, policies, practices, and cultures that have directly affected their lives and the communities they share those experiences with.

This fund embraces and acknowledges that there are young people across England directly affected by injustices who are tirelessly working to speak out against those injustices. We also acknowledge that there are young change makers who are working to see change in their environments but are doing so with little or no resources. The aim of the fund is to support young people who want to challenge and change unlawful laws, policies, practices, and cultures that have directly affected their lives and the communities they share those experiences with.

https://www.blagravetrust.org/our-work/challenge-and-change/

The Advocacy Academy

The Advocacy Academy is an activist youth movement of young leaders fighting for justice and equality. We serve as the political home for grassroots youth organising and the catalyst for collective action. Our Advocates’ lives have been directly shaped by living in an unjust world, and we exist to turn their anger into action.

We are young, dynamic, ambitious and unapologetic, and we are always looking for people to join us who are as passionate as we are about building the world as it should be.

https://www.theadvocacyacademy.com/