Intergenerational effect of parental incarceration in India: a review from human rights perspective

Abstract

The influence of parental incarceration on their children is in itself a complex issue to understand pertaining to the multi-dimensional effect that is observed in the development of children. When either or both parents of a child are incarcerated, their fate is determined in two ways, namely, to allow them to live with their parents inside the judicial facilities or to stay outside in the care of their kin or relatives and sometimes even institutional care facilities. However, the most concerning aspect of the impact of parental incarceration on a child is the intergenerational mobility of this impact which follows a cyclic manner and results in the incarceration of the child as they develop into adults. There is a major dearth of studies exclusively focused on the intergenerational aspect of parental incarceration in the Indian context, especially for adolescents left outside by incarcerated parents. This paper thoroughly reviews the previous studies to analyse the situation pertaining to the problem at hand and identify the research gaps to provide scope for exploration by future researchers.