Incarceration is a painful experience and a difficult adjustment, particularly for juvenile offenders. Research on incarcerated adults has shown they have a much less tumultuous transition when they have a strong relationship with their families. Adults with “pro-social supports” from family like letter writing, phone calls, and visitation have few behavioral infractions. Given the strong impact that family support and connection has on adult inmates, the Vera Institute of Justice and the Ohio Department of Youth Services collaborated on “Families as Partners: Supporting Youth Reentry”, a research and technical assistance program to assess the impact of family support on juvenile offenders.

The project, which ran from February, 2010 through March, 2013, found that like adults, incarcerated juveniles had better outcomes when their families were involved in their lives.

Youth who were visited weekly had significantly less behavior incidents per month than youth who were infrequently or never visited by family members. The vast majority of youth had some form of contact with families like phone calls or letters, but in-person visitation has a strong impact on the well-being of incarcerated youth. Youth with consistent family visitation also did better in school.

Unfortunately, it is often difficult for families to visit their loved ones while incarcerated because of financial constraints, distance from the facility and not enough time to make a long round trip for a visit. All of these factors should be taken into account when placing a youth in a facility and when setting visitation policies. Encouraging youth to keep in contact and visit with their families benefits not only the youth but the facility as well by significantly reducing behavior-related incidents. In all aspects of juvenile justice work, we should promote positive family involvement and connection to achieve the best outcomes for all stakeholders.

by Emily Bergman