Policy Commentary: The Research Evidence Policymakers Need to Build Better Public Policy for Children of Incarcerated Parents

Abstract

This commentary identifies what research evidence is needed to inform policy on what may be incarceration’s longest-lasting legacy—its impact on the next generation. Drawing on theory and practice, these comments are targeted to researchers interested in generating and disseminating policy-relevant research to build better public policy for children of incarcerated parents. For policy-informed evidence, researchers need to understand the policymakers who will be using the information and the environment in which they operate. For evidence-informed policy, policymakers need research that provides a more complete and comprehensive understanding of how children’s well-being is influenced by contact with their incarcerated parents, what the mediators and moderators of that influence are, and what the cost/benefits might be of intervening in ways that will benefit children. What’s more, policymakers need family-focused research on how families can contribute to more effective and efficient policies, what the advertent and inadvertent consequences of policies are for fragile families, who the concept of family should include, and whether family disparities exist. Just as the number of children losing a parent to incarceration is unprecedented, researchers are called to produce research-based, family-focused evidence that is unprecedented in its scale and quality.