When a parent is sentenced to prison, they are not necessarily the only person whose life is turned upside down.
A major new research project is examining what happens to tamariki and rangatahi when a parent or primary caregiver is imprisoned, including whether their rights, wellbeing and care arrangements are being adequately considered when New Zealand courts make bail and sentencing decisions.
The Borrin Foundation-funded project brings together researchers from the University of Auckland and Auckland University of Technology, including Professor Khylee Quince, Professor Julia Tolmie, Professor Tracey McIntosh and Professor Barry Milne.
The research was initiated following a request from the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court for New Zealand-based research into sentencing parents who are primary or sole caregivers and the consequences imprisonment can have for their children.
Other articles of interest in this thread:
- Beyond the Prison Gate: New TIAKI Podcast Exposes the Hidden Health Cost of Māori Imprisonment
- #national: Part one: Locked Up: The Billion-Dollar Cost of Incarcerating Māori in Aotearoa
- #tekaupapa Investigates: Locked Up: The Billion-Dollar Cost Of Incarcerating Māori In Aotearoa
- #national: Prison Law Push Aims to Strengthen Rights as Māori Overrepresentation Remains Under Scrutiny
- #hauora: MORE THAN MASSAGE: RONGOĀ PRACTITIONER CHALLENGES PRISON HEALING CRACKDOWN
WHEN MUM GOES TO PRISON
Existing research points to a dramatic difference in what happens to children depending on which parent is imprisoned.
When fathers are imprisoned, 79 percent of children continue living with their mothers, meaning their primary living arrangements generally remain unchanged.
When mothers are imprisoned, however, the situation is reversed.
Only 21 percent of children remain with their fathers, meaning most experience some form of change to their care arrangements.
Women in prison are also almost three times more likely than imprisoned men to have dependent children and more than twice as likely to be single parents.
That means sending a mother to prison can potentially trigger an entirely separate chain of consequences for children who have committed no offence themselves.
Their home can change. Their caregiver can change. Their schooling can be disrupted. Their connection with siblings and wider whānau may be affected.
The new research wants to understand those consequences.
A PARTICULARLY IMPORTANT KAUPAPA FOR MĀORI
Professor Khylee Quince says the issue carries particular significance for Māori.
The research notes that Māori children are more likely to live in single-parent households, most commonly headed by mothers, while 67 percent of women currently imprisoned are Māori.
That means the consequences of maternal imprisonment can fall disproportionately on tamariki Māori and their wider whānau.
The research will investigate what happens when wāhine Māori continue trying to parent and manage whānau relationships from behind prison walls, sometimes without important institutions in their children’s lives, including schools, even knowing a parent has been incarcerated.
Professor Tracey McIntosh also points to the potential intergenerational impact. For some incarcerated wāhine, state care was already part of their own childhood experience, creating additional fear about what may happen to their tamariki when they are no longer able to care for them directly.
ARE CHILDREN VISIBLE IN SENTENCING?
At the heart of the project is a challenging question for the justice system.
When a judge decides whether a parent should be imprisoned, how visible are the children who depend on that person?
The researchers will examine how New Zealand judges currently approach cases involving parents and caregivers, what information is available to the courts and how children’s interests are incorporated into bail and sentencing decisions.
They will also investigate how many children have a parent facing imprisonment, the demographics of those families, the offences involved and what arrangements are subsequently made for children’s care.
The project is not simply examining what happens inside the courtroom.
Researchers will use interviews, population data and engagement with community organisations and NGOs to understand what happens to children both before and after their caregiver is imprisoned.
That includes examining changes in where children live, school attendance and health outcomes.
SHORT SENTENCES, LONG CONSEQUENCES
Researchers will also examine the types of offending resulting in imprisonment, including drug and property offences, and how many parents are serving relatively short prison sentences.
That raises another important policy question.
A prison sentence may be relatively short for the adult being punished, but the disruption it creates in a child’s life could potentially last much longer.
Removing a primary caregiver can require new accommodation, new caregivers and new routines while potentially affecting a child’s education, health and sense of stability.
For tamariki Māori, there can also be questions around maintaining whakapapa, whanaungatanga and connections to wider whānau.
COULD SENTENCING BE DONE DIFFERENTLY?
The study will examine international approaches alongside programmes already operating within New Zealand to determine whether there are better ways of dealing with cases involving parents and primary caregivers.
Researchers ultimately intend to develop recommendations for law reform and improved judicial practice.
That does not mean parents should escape accountability because they have children.
Instead, the research is asking whether the justice system adequately understands the wider consequences of imprisonment before making decisions that can fundamentally reshape a child’s life.
It is an important distinction.
The court sentences the offender.
But when that offender is also somebody’s mum, dad or primary caregiver, the consequences of that sentence can travel far beyond the prison gate.
And for thousands of tamariki and rangatahi, the new research is asking whether the justice system has been paying enough attention to the sentence they effectively serve as well.
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