Parental Incarceration, the Prison Boom, and the Concentration of Disadvantage

Christopher Wildeman, Princeton University

In an era of historically high imprisonment rates, parental imprisonment may have emerged as a novel experience for disadvantaged black children. Despite the possible effect of the prison boom on childhood inequality, no estimates of the risk of parental imprisonment exist. This paper estimates the risk of parental imprisonment for American children born between 1978 and 1990. Estimates show that: (1) three percent of children born in 1978 and six percent of children born in 1990 experienced parental imprisonment; (2) one in five black children and one in 40 white children born in 1990 had a parent imprisoned; (3) race and class inequality in the risk of parental imprisonment is growing; and (4) 40 percent of black children born in 1990 to high school dropouts experienced parental imprisonment. Estimates using longitudinal data confirm that parental imprisonment is a novel form of childhood disadvantage that concentrates disadvantage among black children of low-education parents.