HSEM3308V: Incarceration and the Family

It is now estimated that more than 2.7 million children have a parent currently behind bars, and more than 5 million children have experienced a parent’s incarceration in their lifetime. When parents are incarcerated, there are collateral consequences for children, families, communities, and society. Children of incarcerated parents are at risk for a number of adverse outcomes, including behavior problems, academic difficulties, substance abuse, and criminal activity. As a liberal education course with an explicit focus on Diversity and Social Justice in the United States, we will use an interdisciplinary perspective to explore the issue of mass incarceration, focusing on the impact of incarceration on children and families. This class will include opportunities to visit local correctional facilities and engage with community-based programs serving families impacted by incarceration. Topics will include parent-child contact during incarceration, intersections between incarceration and child welfare, systemic disparities by race and class, and intergenerational cycles of incarceration. prereq: [Jr or sr] honors student

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