The Long-Term Effects of Paternal Imprisonment on Criminal Trajectories of Children

This study investigates the effects of fathers' imprisonment on criminal convictions of their children (aged 18 to 30). Unique official data of the Criminal Career and Life Course Study (CCLS) are used on a nationally representative sample of Dutch men convicted in 1977. Growth curve analysis is used to establish the influence of paternal imprisonment on the development of criminal careers of children. Special attention is paid to the timing and the duration of the imprisonment. The authors demonstrate an association between fathers' imprisonment and child convictions, especially when fathers are imprisoned when the child is between 0 and 12 years old. When fathers' criminal history is controlled for, the influence of paternal imprisonment becomes much weaker, although it remains significant. The dose-response relationship between the length of the father's imprisonment and children's convictions disappears after controlling for other variables. In the Netherlands, effects of paternal imprisonment on children are very weak and similar to the effects found in another study in Sweden. More research is needed to adequately test the mechanisms causing the relationship between paternal imprisonment and child crime.