Children of Incarcerated Parents

Black male incarceration and
higher mortality rates are often pointed
to for these imbalanced sex ratios.
Although black males make up 6% of
the population, they make up 50% of
those who are incarcerated. This
incarceration rate for black males
increased by a rate of more than four
Between 1980 and 2003, 4,744 to
27,141 more African American males
died annually than African American
females. This higher incarceration
rate and mortality rate helps to
explain the low marriage rates for many
African American females who cannot
find black partners.
between the years of 1980 and
2003. The incarceration rate for
African American males is 3,045 out
of 100,000 compared to 465 per
100,000 White American males. The
chance that black males will be arrested
and jailed at least once in their lifetime
in many areas around the country is
extremely high. For Washington, D.C.,
this probability is between 80 and 90%.
The mortality rates for African American
males are also typically higher than they
are for African American females.
Implications
The Moynihan Report, written by
Assistant Secretary of Labor, Daniel
Patrick Moynihan, initiated the debate
on whether the African-American family
structure leads to negative outcomes,
such as poverty, teenage pregnancy
and gaps in education or whether the
reverse is true and the African American
family structure is a result of institutional
discrimination, poverty and other
segregation. Regardless of the
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