“When She Says Daddy”: Black Fathers’ Recidivism following Reentry from Jail

Alvin Thomas, Jennifer Clare Wirth, Julie Poehlmann-Tynan and David J. Pate
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Alvin Thomas: Human Development and Family Studies Department, School of Human Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA
Jennifer Clare Wirth: Human Development and Family Studies Department, School of Human Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA
Julie Poehlmann-Tynan: Human Development and Family Studies Department, School of Human Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA
David J. Pate: Helen Bader School of Social Welfare, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI 53201, USA

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 6, 1-24

Abstract: We report on the findings of a mixed methods longitudinal study of 84 African American fathers of young children who were enrolled into the study during the father’s jail stay. Participants were assessed using interviews, self-report measures, and administrative records on frequency of father–child contact, father–caregiver relationship quality, family support, paternal pre-incarceration employment, fathers’ plans to live with the child upon reentry, history of substance abuse, and new convictions one year following release from jail. Qualitative analysis revealed three primary identities of fathers during incarceration: father as nurturer, father as protector, and father as provider. Qualitative analysis of interview data detailed the ways in which the context of incarceration and the presence of the criminal justice system interacts with these identities to impact family structure, parent–child visits, plans for release, and motivation for desistance. Quantitative analysis indicated heterogeneity among fathers, with links between parent–child contact and desistance conditional on fathers’ plans for coresidence with children as well as family support and relationship quality. Taken together, the findings highlight the strengths of African American fathers and their families despite the risks associated with incarceration, including the importance of family support and children as motivation for desistance. The results have implications for how the justice system weighs the bidirectional influences of fathers and families.

Keywords: children; family; fathers; jail; recidivism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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