Parents of Young Offenders as Blameworthy Victims? Methodological Challenges and Solutions Daniel McCarthy Lecturer in Criminology University of Surrey

What criminology has to say about parenting and crime? Onset and desistance factors (Sampson and Laub, 1993, Farrington, 2007 for reviews) - Parents as a risk factor in crime Collateral consequences, especially when parent is incarcerated (Fishman, 1990, Hagan and Dinovitzer, 1999, Codd, 2008, Comfort, 2008)

Why parents? Desistance and supporting resettlement Parenting dynamics – re-building or severing relationships Coping mechanisms they employ Impacts – financial and material, health (physical and mental), relationships, identity and self, violence and harm

“Families should be more like the Waltons and Less Like the Simpsons” (G H Bush, Former US President)

Researching parents in criminology Secondary data issues – child as dependent variable, few of the parent/s Current project: ▫60 interviews with parents sampled from Youth Justice Services in South Wales and London. ▫Social network analysis ▫Parents with children imprisoned – interview at 2 time frames – start of sentence and 6 months after sentence

Examples of Interview measures How relationships and contact between parent/s and child change over the prison term and beyond? Factors of gender of parent and family structure Parental support networks and ties – whether these change over the prison term Wider impacts on parents – tied to health, work, personal relationships, self and identity

Connecting Interview Data with Social Network Analysis (SNA)

Networks of parental connections and how they change Familial ties Friendship ties Neighbours, community ties and activities Formal control agencies – e.g. prison, youth offending teams

What does such a methodological approach provide research on families and crime? Prison as an interconnected system beyond the prisoner – importance of family Processes, mechanisms and context behind parental networks and secondary experiences of prison Resilience factors or negative impacts on familial relations and coping

Key Methodological Issues/Challenges Re-positioning family risk factors Issues about ‘networks’ Parental pathways How to measure ‘impact’ and ‘outcomes’ on parents?