Direct harms and social consequences: An analysis of the impact of maternal imprisonment on dependent children in England and Wales
| Published date | 01 November 2019 |
| Date | 01 November 2019 |
| Author | Shona Minson |
| DOI | 10.1177/1748895818794790 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/1748895818794790
Criminology & Criminal Justice
2019, Vol. 19(5) 519 –536
© The Author(s) 2018
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DOI: 10.1177/1748895818794790
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Direct harms and social
consequences: An analysis
of the impact of maternal
imprisonment on dependent
children in England and Wales
Shona Minson
University of Oxford, UK
Abstract
This article draws upon research with children whose mothers were imprisoned in England
and Wales, to investigate the impacts of maternal imprisonment on dependent children. The
research directly engaged with children, in accordance with Article 12 of the UNCRC 1989,
and is set within an examination of the differentiated treatment in the family and criminal
courts of England and Wales of children facing state initiated separation from a parent. The
article explores children’s ‘confounding grief’ and contends that this grief originates from social
processes, experienced as a consequence of maternal imprisonment. ‘Secondary prisonization’
is characterized by changes in home and caregiver and the regulation of the mother and child
relationship. ‘Secondary stigmatization’ occurs when children are stigmatized by virtue of their
relationship with their mother. These harms to children call into question the state’s fulfilment of
its duty to protect children under Article 2 of the UNCRC 1989.
Keywords
Children of prisoners, children’s rights, maternal imprisonment, sentencing, UNCRC 1989,
women in prison
Introduction
Around 800,000 children across Europe are separated from a parent by imprisonment on
any given day (Ayre et al., 2006). Each year more than 200,000 children in England and
Corresponding author:
Shona Minson, Centre for Criminology, University of Oxford, St Cross Building, St Cross Road, Oxford,
OX1 3UL, UK.
Email: Shona.minson@crim.ox.ac.uk
794790CRJ0010.1177/1748895818794790Criminology & Criminal JusticeMinson
research-article2018
Article
520 Criminology & Criminal Justice 19(5)
Wales experience parental imprisonment (Williams et al., 2012) and the societal impacts
of increased penal populism seen both in the United States and in Europe are focusing
attention on the thousands of children whose lives are altered when their parent is impris-
oned (Smith, 2014; Wakefield and Wildeman, 2014).
A child with an imprisoned mother is likely to suffer more negative effects of parental
imprisonment than a child with an imprisoned father (Dallaire, 2007a; Gilham, 2012;
Murray, 2010; Murray and Farrington, 2008). In the UK it is more usual for a mother than
a father to be the primary carer of dependent children (Office of National Statistics, 2013),
and when a mother is imprisoned in England and Wales only 9 per cent of children are
cared for by their father (Corston, 2007: 20). Data are not collected about prisoners’
dependants but it is estimated that in England and Wales more than 17,240 children each
year are separated from their mother because of her imprisonment (Howard League,
2011). A government report estimated that 13–19 per cent of all women receiving imme-
diate custody had child dependants (Ministry of Justice, 2015). Literature from the United
States and Europe links maternal imprisonment to a variety of negative consequences for
children: diminished future outcomes due to disrupted primary attachments in childhood
(Dallaire, 2007a); disrupted education (Cho, 2011; Dallaire and Wilson, 2010; Hagan and
Foster, 2012); difficulty in following a ‘pro-social’ pathway (Fox and Benson, 2000;
Green and Scholes, 2004; Hirschi, 1969); a very high aggregate, in number and range, of
worrisome adversities and risk factors (Cunningham and Baker, 2003; Miller, 2014); and
care arrangements which may not be in the child’s best interests (Caddle and Crisp, 1997;
Poehlmann, 2005); and finally a greater risk of dying before the age of 65 than adults who
did not experience maternal imprisonment in childhood (Van De Weijer et al., 2018).
Those who care for such children during their mother’s absence are likely to suffer from
a number of significant hardships affecting their ability to work, their economic stability,
their family dynamics and their health (Minson, 2017; Raikes, 2016).
This article draws upon data from a study which sought to understand the ways in
which maternal imprisonment impacts upon children, as part of an exploration of why
the state separation of children from parents follows different procedures in the family
courts and the criminal courts of England and Wales (Minson, 2017). When children face
separation from their parent as a consequence of state action in the family courts, in pro-
ceedings under section 31 of the Children Act 1989 due to abuse or neglect by their
parents, their best interests are the ‘paramount consideration’ of the court and they have
legal representation. If removed from their parents the state provides them with a new
home and supplies both training and payment to their new caregivers. In contrast, chil-
dren who face separation from their mother as a consequence of sentencing proceedings
in the criminal courts are neither represented nor acknowledged within those proceed-
ings. After separation there is no state care or support for them. The study examined
explanations for the differentiated treatment with reference to existing literature and
original empirical research. The impact on children of imprisoned mothers was investi-
gated to determine whether or not they suffer harm. The parameters of the state duty of
care towards children were explored, to see if children of defendant mothers fall outside
of it, and the way sentencing judges construct and interpret their duty towards mothers
and their children within the sentencing process was also examined. The research estab-
lished that without legal or moral justification, children of maternal defendants are
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