Incarcerated Mothers and Child Visitation: A Law, Social Science, and Policy Perspective

This article examines the issue of child visitation for criminally confined mothers. This topic is assessed, mindful of what the social science literature reports, especially in regards to recidivism trends, community reintegration concerns, and prospects for successful family reunification. A 2002 National Institute of Corrections study found that only six states had legislation in place regarding incarcerated mothers and their children. Of these six states, California and Florida have statutes that deal substantively with the issue of visitation. Accordingly, this article considers the extent to which the relevant research informs (or not) those state statutes that comment on the issue of visitation for criminally confined mothers. Where deficiencies are noted between “law on the books” and “law in practice” (including the considerable lack of state statutes on the subject), a series of criminal justice policy reforms are proposed, consistent with the empirical findings.