number of the men who get sent to
prison, for example, are fathers. (One-
fourth of juveniles convicted of crimes
have children.) And the effect on a child
of having a father sent away to prison is
devastating. Some criminals are lousy
fathers: abusive, volatile, absent. But
many are not. Their earnings—both from
crime and legal jobs—help support their
families. For a child, losing a father to
prison is an undesirable difficulty.
Having a parent incarcerated increases a
child’s chances of juvenile delinquency
between 300 and 400 percent; it
increases the odds of a serious
psychiatric disorder by 250 percent.
Once the criminal has served his time,
darren dugan
(Darren Dugan)
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