The relationship between motherhood and re-incarceration

Abstract

Using matched administrative records from the Illinois Department of Corrections and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, this paper finds that mothers' rates of re-incarceration are higher than those of women without children. It is also found that incarcerated mothers whose children have been in foster care have a higher re-incarceration rate than do women without children. The re-incarceration rate is particularly higher among mothers whose children were placed in foster care at the time of their first incarceration and mothers who had children in foster care but lost their custody before their first incarceration. These findings are more pronounced among white women with records of drug-related offenses or drug addiction than among their African-American counterparts.