The Intergenerational Stability of Punishment: Paternal Incarceration and Suspension or Expulsion in Elementary School

• Published date: 01 August 2019
• Author: Wade C. Jacobsen
• DOI: 10.1177/0022427819829794
• Date: 01 August 2019
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

The Intergenerational

Stability of

Punishment: Paternal

Incarceration and

Suspension or Expulsion

in Elementary School

Wade C. Jacobsen

1

Abstract

Objectives: I extend the life-course theory of cumulative disadvantage to

focus on continuity in punishment across generations. Specifically, I examine

(1) the association between paternal incarceration and elementary school

suspension or expulsion and (2) the extent to which behavior problems and

weakened social bonds explain this association. Method: Analyses rely on

logistic regression, propensity score matching, and mediation methods with

data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N¼3,201), a

birth cohort of children born in large U.S. cities between 1998 and 2000.

Results: The odds of school punishment among children who had a residen-

tial father incarcerated by age 5 are 75 percent greater than the odds for

children in a matched control group. About one third of this association is

accounted for by behavior problems and weakened social bonds. Even after

accounting for behavior problems and social bonds, children whose fathers

1

University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

Corresponding Author:

Wade C. Jacobsen, University of Maryland, 2220H Samuel J. LeFrak Hall, 7251 Preinkert Dr.,

College Park, MD 20742, USA.

Email: wcj@umd.edu

Journal of Research in Crime and

Delinquency

2019, Vol. 56(5) 651-693

ªThe Author(s) 2019

Article reuse guidelines:

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DOI: 10.1177/0022427819829794

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were incarcerated are at greater risk of school punishment. Conclusions: I

find evidence of an intergenerational stability of punishment and mixed

support for an intergenerational extension to cumulative disadvantage the-

ory. Paternal incarceration is associated with children’s likelihood of experi-

encing formal punishment in elementary school, and behavior problems and

weakened social bonds explain part of this association.

Keywords

criminological theory, cumulative disadvantage, life-course theory, parental

incarceration, punishment, school suspension

An excessive emphasis on punishment in the last three decades of the

twentieth century led not only to unprecedented levels of convictions and

incarceration among adults in the United States (Clear and Frost 2014) but

also heavy reliance on school suspension for children. Whereas 1 in 36

adults are under some form of correctional supervision each year (Kaeble

et al. 2015), about 2 in 36 students are suspended from school (Civil Rights

Data Collection 2018).

1

Independently, both systems of punishment dis-

proportionately affect Black men and boys (Pettit and Western 2004; Skiba,

Shure, and Williams 2012). Furthermore, eac h is associated with social

exclusion, or the removal of individuals from important institutions and

relationships, with potential consequences for persistence in delinquency

and criminal justice involvement (Foster and Hagan 2015; Hirschfield

2018; Kirk and Wakefield 2018).

Beyond their independent impacts, research also suggests there are

meaningful links between school punishment and criminal justice involve-

ment. Most notably, prior research finds school suspension associated with

later arrest and incarceration (Arum and Beattie 1999; Ramey 2016). The

direction of this association is conceptualized as a “school-to-prison

pipeline” (Mowen and Brent 2016), described within the framework of the

life-course theory of cumulative disadvantage (Sampson and Laub 1997).

Cumulative disadvantage theory integrates labeling (Lemert 1951) and

informal social control theories (Laub and Sampson 2003; Sampson and

Laub 1993) to propose that stigmatized formal sanctions may weaken social

bonds, fostering continuity in delinquency and criminal sanctioning. In the

context of school punishment, students are formally excluded from school

in response to actual or perceived misbehavior. This exclusion and the

deviant label accompanying it initiate a turning point in children’s lives,

652 Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 56(5)

in which school attachment is attenuated and behavior is more scrutinized,

facilitating persistence in delinquency and justice involvement (Hemphill

et al. 2006; Mowen and Brent 2016).

This school-to-prison conceptualization, while meaningful and impor-

tant, likely masks a more dynamic interplay at work between these two

institutions. The life-course perspective not only recognizes the conse-

quences of individuals’ own experiences with formal punishment in their

likelihood of future punishment but also emphasizes the role of “linked

lives,” such as parents and children (Elder 1985; Thornberry et al. 2003).

For example, prior research finds the incarceration of parents associated

with weakened social bonds and delinquency among their children (e.g.,

Mears and Siennick 2016). Thus, the accumulation of disadvantage may be

evident not only in the continuity (or stability) of punishment across life

stages but also in the stability of punishment across generations. More

specifically, not only may there be a “school-to-prison pipeline” linking

these two systems of punishment, there is also potential for a parent’s

incarceration to be associated with their child’s risk of suspension or expul-

sion from school. I refer to this continuity across generations as the inter-

generational stability of punishment.

In examining the intergenerational stability of punishment, I extend key

concepts from labeling and cumulative disadvantage theories. First,

“secondary deviance” (Lemert 1951) refers to increased behavior problems

following receipt of a formal sanction. Extending this concept, intergenera-

tional secondary deviance refers to child behavior problems associated with

the incarceration of a parent (Hagan and Palloni 1990). Second, “secondary

sanctioning” refers to a subsequent arrest or incarceration following an

initial arrest. It represents the increased risk of involvement with the justice

system following an initial sanction due to increases in surveillance rather

than to increases in delinquency (Liberman, Kirk, and Kim 2014). Extend-

ing this concept, intergenerational secondary sanctioning refers to school

punishment associated with the incarceration of a parent, after adjusting for

child behavior problems. The cumulative disadvantage framework suggests

it is due to societal reactions such as increased school surveillance that put

children with an incarcerated parent (which educators may or may not be

aware of) at greater risk of school punishment regardless of their behavior.

The aim of this study is to broaden understandings of the interaction

between schools and the justice system by (1) examining the association

between paternal incarceration and suspension or expulsion in elementary

school and (2) identifying potential mechanisms of this association. For

this, I rely on an intergenerational extension to cumulative disadvantage

Jacobsen 653