WHEREAS, Between 1991 and 2007, the number of children who | 6 |
had an incarcerated parent increased by 80%. One out of every 28 | 7 |
children has a parent who is incarcerated. Approximately seven in | 8 |
ten women under correctional sanctions have minor children under | 9 |
the age of 18 and approximately five in ten men under correctional | 10 |
sanctions have minor children. On average, for every female | 11 |
prisoner, 2.4 children become invisible, forgotten victims. For | 12 |
every male prisoner, an average of 2.0 children become forgotten | 13 |
victims. Since incarceration rates are higher for males than for | 14 |
females, up to 90% of the children who have an incarcerated parent | 15 |
are socially fatherless; and | 16 |
WHEREAS, Children of incarcerated parents face many problems | 23 |
typical to at-risk youth (lack of positive role models, unstable | 24 |
home life, poverty, poor school performance), including being five | 25 |
to six times more likely than peers to be incarcerated themselves, | 26 |
more likely to abuse substances and engage in antisocial behavior, | 27 |
more likely to drop out of school, run away, and become homeless, | 28 |
more likely to suffer from a negative self image, fear, anxiety, | 29 |
anger, resentment, and sadness, more likely to have high levels of | 30 |
truancy, physical aggression and disruptive behavior, and more | 31 |
likely to be traumatized by separation, stigmatized by shame of | 32 |
having a parent in prison; and | 33 |
RESOLVED, That we, the members of the 130th General Assembly, | 47 |
recognizing the adverse impacts upon children of incarcerated | 48 |
parents, designate the month of April as Forgotten Victims of | 49 |
Crime Recognition Month and encourage all citizens of the state of | 50 |
Ohio, along with all state and local agencies that interact with | 51 |
the families of incarcerated Ohioans, to join with the General | 52 |
Assembly in acknowledgement and support of the families and | 53 |
children of incarcerated Ohioans; and be it further | 54 |