SJC Exchange Library

The Prison Policy Initiative released a report about the 12 states that have passed sentencing reforms targeting incarcerated people who are the primary caregivers of minor children.

Altogether, at least 5 million children nationwide have an incarcerated parent - an experience that, as PPI explains in their report, traumatizes kids and makes it more likely that they themselves will end up in prison. 

They looked for evidence that states had passed laws to protect the bonds between children and their incarcerated parents. The sparse examples PPI found fell into two buckets: 1) laws requiring judges to consider someone's status as a primary caregiver when sentencing them to prison (passed in 8 states), and 2) laws creating a maximum distance allowed between parent and child (passed in 4 states).

As their briefing explains, even these reforms have serious limitations. For example, laws may not change or bypass mandatory minimums, meaning there are limits to the discretion that a judge can exercise during sentencing.