This report aims to inform UK policy making regarding preventing offending and reoffending, by bringing together published information and new findings on prisoners' children and families.
It looks at the past and present family circumstances of 1,435 newly sentenced prisoners. It examines their childhood and family background, current family relationships, and associations between background/family characteristics and reoffending e.g. school truancy. The report estimates that 200,000 children are affected by imprisonment. 74% of the prisoners involved in the study said they felt close to their families. The report concludes that maintaining family relationships may help prevent reoffending and therefore consideration should be given to how adequate the systems are which facilitate family contact and involvement. The impact that parental imprisonment and maintaining contact may have on the prisoners' families should also be considered further.
See Prisoners' Childhood and Family Backgrounds below:
