Children of the Prison Boom: Mass Incarceration and the Future of American Inequality (Studies in Crime and Public Policy (Paperback))

Drawing upon broadly representative survey data and qualitative interviews, Children of the Prison Boom describes the devastating effects of America's experiment in mass incarceration for a generation of vulnerable children. Wakefield and Wildeman find that parental imprisonment leads to increased mental health and behavioral problems, infant mortality, and child homelessness which translate into large-scale increases in racial inequality, structuring stratification for a lost generation now coming of age.

Sara Wakefield is Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University.

Christopher Wildeman is Associate Professor of Policy Analysis and Management at Cornell University