In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

76 3 The Ubiquity of Violence Jasmine is thirteen, and playing basketball is her passion. She plays as often as she can and lifts weights to build up her muscles, so Jasmine is a strong young woman. That’s good for her not just because it improves her playing but also because Jasmine fights. She’ll fight anyone, but mostly she fights boys because the girls are scared of her. No sissy girl fighting for Jasmine: she knows how to throw a punch because her older male cousin taught her how. When she fights a girl, she’s liable to hurt her, as she did in this fight she described that took place not long before we first met: “She said some words to me when I sat on her desk and she pushed me. I told her if she pushed me again, I’d black her eye. She pushed me again, so I hit her in the eye. And she fell. I let her get back up and we started fighting, so I hit her in the eye again, and she had a black eye.” Jasmine started fighting in second grade and has fought frequently since then, mostly in the neighborhood but sometimes at school. What really provokes her is when someone says something about her father, who was murdered before Jasmine was born. Jasmine’s mother’s explanation of his death was matter-of-fact: “He was selling drugs. You know how it goes—one thing leads to another and, you know, he got shot.” Children fighting. Moms being victimized. Dads getting shot. Fights at school. Fights in the neighborhood. Relatives teaching children how to fight. Such was the reality of life for many children I interviewed while their mothers were awaiting trial. The amount of violence in the children’s lives before parental incarceration was one of the most striking and disturbing aspects of the children’s narratives, and it insinuated itself into the children’s worlds at home and beyond. These young people were both victims and witnesses of violence, as well as, in many cases, perpetrators. Although they expressed dislike for the violence in their communities and several refrained from fighting, the CH003.qxd 4/20/11 10:30 AM Page 76 violence was so common that many people I interviewed seemed resigned to its inevitability. As Jasmine’s mother said, “You know how it goes.” Viewed in conjunction with the other troubling aspects of the children’s private and public worlds, the violence presented itself as a serious risk factor for worrisome consequences. The violence in the children’s lives manifests itself in a variety of ways. Children can be exposed to violence both directly through their own victimization and indirectly as witnesses to violence perpetrated against others. The violence can occur at home, in the community, and at school. Wherever it occurs, children who experience violence respond to it variously, sometimes by adapting their own behavior to cope with it. There is a notable similarity between the outcomes reported to be associated with parental incarceration and those linked with children’s exposure to violence, which suggests that the children’s frequent contact with violence may provide additional context for understanding the conduct of children whose parents are incarcerated. I did not embark on this research specifically to assess either the extent or the impact of violence in the children’s lives, but its ubiquity was so pronounced that it cannot be ignored, particularly if it helps explain why prisoners’ children are considered so vulnerable a population. No Safe Haven Ian is the ten-year-old boy introduced earlier whose older brother, aunt, and uncle were all locked up in the same county jail as his mother, Lucinda. Ian lived with his mother and father until they separated when he was four or five. He never saw his father again. Ian was taciturn, but he was willing to talk about the reason for his parents’ separation: IAN: My mom got a divorce because he was abusing her. JS: How was he abusing her? IAN: Pouring bleach into her eyes. Threatening to stab her. JS: Did you see any of that happen? IAN: Yeah. JS: Did you see him throw the bleach in her eyes? IAN: Yes. JS: How did that make you feel? IAN: Angry at him. JS: Did you say anything to him about it? IAN: No. Me and Steve [Ian’s brother] were too scared. We were hiding in the corner. THE...

Share