Parenting Pre-Trial: Estimates and Experiences of Parenting with Pending Charges

• In Event: Criminal Legal System and Other Societal Institutions: Open Call Paper Session

Abstract

Over the last several decades, the proportion of incarcerated parents has risen significantly, showing how the criminal legal system intersects with the institution of families. While researchers have shown how prison influences parenting both during incarceration and reentry, there is little information about parenting pretrial, both while in jail and while on pretrial release. In this mixed-methods project, we fill this gap by providing population estimates of parents under jail supervision and highlighting the experiences of parenting while pretrial. First, we draw on population-representative survey data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics to project the number of parents in jails and on pretrial. Second, we utilized interviews conducted with people charged with felonies to detail how people are parenting pretrial. Our qualitative findings show how parenting pretrial takes people away from their children during crucial moments and makes caretaking nearly impossible to sustain. This was especially true for people with young children, especially mothers. Conversely, fathers were able to find joy in their role as a parent during this challenging time. Taken together, the quantitative and qualitative data show how widespread and how difficult the experience of parenting pretrial is. In doing so, we contribute important information to literature on families, the criminal legal system, and gender.

Authors

• Erin Eife, George Mason University

• Chloe Craig, Dickinson College