Effects of Collateral Consequences of Criminal Records on Families

• In Event: Contemporary Issues in Prisoner Reentry

Abstract

Individuals with criminal records have difficulty finding employment, housing, and voting among other things. These policies or barriers that result from a criminal record are referred to as collateral consequences. When these policies are developed, they often do not consider the impact on the entire family. When a father cannot find employment or housing because of his criminal record it can make it difficult to provide for their family. In unmarried parents, a father’s financial contribution may correlate with relationship quality between his co-parent. When an unmarried father is contributing financially, relationship quality between co-parents tend to be higher than when he is not contributing. Relationship quality between unmarried co-parents also correlates with father involvement. When relationship quality is high between co-parents, father involvement tends to be high and less father involvement is more likely to occur when relationship quality is low. This presentation will use structural equation modeling to highlight how collateral consequences of criminal records affect the entire family by showing its affect on relationship quality between co-parents and father involvement. It is important to show how collateral consequences of a fathers’ criminal records extend into the family and can have long term devastating effects on the family.

Author

• Ebony Ruhland, University of Minnesota