Rethinking Court Decisions on Middle-Income Mothers and Its Effects on Their Children - Research Paper Example

Mothers Behind Bars: Rethinking Court Decisions on Middle-Income Mothers and Its Effects on Their Children Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 Abstract 2 Role of Women at Home 3 Nature of mothers 5 Effects of sentencing 5 Poor attention and lack of care by the caregivers 6 Poor quality of life 7 Negative behaviour among the children 7 Emotional problems and Drug abuse 8 High cases of delinquency among the children 8 Reaction of the society 9 High levels of crime and negative social behaviour in the society 9 Conclusion 9 Recommendations 10 Abstract There is need to reconsider the kind of judgements passed on women having families, especially for the middle-income women with young kids. Using reports on families and previous studies on the role of women at home and impact of their absence, this research will seek to prove that some of the judgements passed on these women, are way too damaging compared to the suffering that their children go through. Further, it will seek to prove that the absence of women at home leads to more suffering, and in some cases, it does more harm than good. Introduction In a family setting, mothers hold the biggest responsibility, especially in taking care of their homes. This role, naturally assigned to them from the very birth of the child, requires their presence, providing their children with attention at all times. Middle-income women have even a bigger responsibility, contributing to the family financial needs and taking care of their families. With all these responsibilities, women hold a very important role in the family. In court cases, judges and jury pass judgement according to the arguments presented by the advocates. Women involved in any case, whether rightfully or wrongfully convicted attract the suffering to the family. If a woman, holding the responsibility of taking care of the home, while at the same time contributing financially to the running of the home goes behind bars, children suffer and as such, there is the need to rethinking court decisions on middle-income mothers and its effects on their children. Role of Women at Home Nature allocates people different roles in the society (Ruether 647). The division of work in the family between women and men is a social construct, shared among different societies in the world. As children grow old, the society gives them jobs classifying them into their respective gender, either male or female (Ruether 647). Over time, people have accepted that the role of the women in the home, apart from giving birth, encompasses taking care of the homestead their children and the husband (Philbrick and Margaret 618). Being responsible for giving birth, automatically, the women assume the role of caregiving and nursing of the baby. They breastfeed, cook for the child, wash and even train them basic things such as talking and walking (Laxmi 95). Traditionally, men hold the responsibility of providing for their families. This role thus keeps men away from their families and their children most of the time. They are mostly busy at work or doing business in order to provide for their families. Currently, the world changes in a dynamic way. Subsequently, there is an increase in the family needs. With the cost living rising constantly, men are obliged to stay away more from than ever. They thus leave their homes with their wives, who have to be around for the sake of the kids (Laxmi 95). Only recently, thanks to the gender equalization and sensitization campaign in the society, changes occur in these roles. Women now hold bigger roles than before. Proponents of gender equalization argue that women and men should hold equal roles in the society. While this is possible literary, practically, it is impossible. Men still hold the role of paying the hefty bills in the home, such school fees. This burden grows even bigger for the middle-income families, most of who live in urban areas. Coupled with rent and other necessities in towns and cities, the burden grows bigger. Except in some unique cases, men are supposed to contribute the largest portion of these bills. This keeps men away most of the time, subsequently leaving their women with the family. With gender equalization and the need for more finances growing, women have joined the men in search for work in order to contribute to the wellbeing of the family (Ruether 646). This increases the roles of the modern woman, especially one at the middle-income level. According to Philbrick and Margaret (622), not only do women have to handle their families, they have another burden of work. Thus, this makes them very important in such a family setting. Husbands further rely on their women for advice, courtesy of the changing roles in the society (Philbrick and Margaret 623). Women are becoming more significant. While they hold a significant role in contributing to the economic, political, and social development of the society, their domestic roles are overwhelming, observes Ruether (655). Neither can the man, in such a case of a middle-income family, nor the children do without the presence of their mother. They heavily depend on her, thus making her presence in the family mandatory and very important. Nature of mothers Women, holding these roles in the family, make it impossible for a home to run without a mother. Legally, the law acknowledges the significant role that women hold in raring of the family, a reason why in case of a divorce; they reserve the right to the children. Logically, a mother has more remorse and compassion than the father does. Moreover, she holds the biggest responsibility in the birth and contributes to the development of the child. Consequently, whenever there is a separation or a divorce, she retains the right to the children. Due to their nature, it is impossible for the men to prove that they can provide equal care and attention to the children just like their children. Sometimes, due to their busy schedules, the middle-income women hire the services of caregivers to look after their children while at work. Others leave their children with their relatives. These however, cannot provide the child with adequate care and love as the mother would. This is why the mother is an important figure in the life of a child. With an incarceration and a jail term to serve, the children have to live with the absence of the mother. It is important to understand that none of the judgements puts into consideration the fact that a criminal has a family or not. Judgement assumes that the women, before committing the crime, must have factored in their family before engaging in the act. Arguing the law is futile, and as such, the women have to serve their terms. Effects of sentencing Whenever there is a court case, the judgement relies on the arguments and evidence presented before the court. As the court does not rely on logic or the ideal situation, the decision arrived at by the jury or the judge entirely depends on the arguments presented by the attorneys representing both sides. Therefore, the party with the most brilliant lawyer, one with the ability to ague their case right in a court battle, wins the case. Additionally, the evidence presented, in case it directly links the suspect, whether implicitly or otherwise, leads to sentencing of the accused. If the accused is a woman who goes behind bars, she leaves a vacuum in the roles she used to perform at home. Jail terms vary with the magnitude of the crime committed. Sentences for different crimes range from a few days to months and sometimes lifetime imprisonment. In this research, the analysis of the effects of absence of women in the family puts into consideration the long-term sentences. A long sentence in this case, is a sentence that keeps the mother away from the children long enough to affect their life their lifestyles and emotions. There are a number of problems associated with the incarceration of mothers to their children. Previous research has sought to establish the fate of the children left after their mothers serve a term in prison. These range from personal problems to social problems and legal. Poor attention and lack of care by the caregivers According to Poehlmann (680), incarcerating a mother having a young child is more damaging, yet, none of the rulings ever put the children factor into consideration. In their mother’s absentia, well-wishers, relatives, and foster parents take over the care of the children. There is no substantial relationship between the caregivers and the children in this form of arrangement, observes Wendy (web). Thus, the child lacks special attention that the mother could have accorded to the child if she was around (Wendy web). In fact, accusations in the past have arisen over some of the less humane fosters for torturing these children, while in other times neglecting their needs. These contribute to poor health, lack of proper education and stress. Poor quality of life A woman in a middle-income family serves a bigger role than just taking care of the children; she contributes to the financial needs of the family by working (Philbrick and Margaret 632). Further, she provides the best care and needs of the children to the best of her ability (Laxmi 95). The absence of the mother in such a home means that her contribution to the wellbeing of the family ceases. This leaves the father being the sole provider for the children. Being the sole provider and coupling as the mother and father at the same time, the children are likely to have a poor quality of life. While the money that the mother used to contribute towards the family bills goes missing, to meet this gap, the father works harder, and for longer hours. Being away longer leaves the children under no care and this compromises the quality of food they eat, their hygiene, and habits. In most cases, the mother cooks for the family. Subsequently, she provides the children with a balanced diet. Additionally, she is responsible for the behaviour of her children. In her absence, the children lack these services, thus lowering the quality of their lives. Moreover, there is disruption of their education. This leads to poor living standards of these children in their future, since without any form of education they cannot acquire any jobs. Negative behaviour among the children According to research conducted by Howard, et al. (5), there are far reaching implications of separating a child from the mother at a young age. These implications are far more reaching in the life of the child in the long term. Behavioural changes are one of the major implications of this separation (Wendy web). A number of factors contribute to the change in behaviour in a child. While the absence of the mother, who is instrumental to the behaviour of the child as he/she grows up, leads to lack of behavioural guidance and discipline of the child, there is an association of a mother’s absence to an aggressive behaviour. Experts argue that the absence of the mother psychologically affects a child (Miller 473). The fact that the child does not understand whatever happens in their life, and learn from nature is a significant contribution of this development. A child growing without the mother, as he/she has to learn most of the things the hard way, falls victim of aggressiveness, thus developing an aggressive behaviour. Especially for the children aged between 3 and 5 years, this behaviour persists. As these children grow old, argues Howard, et al., (6) they exhibit the same behaviour towards other people. Emotional problems and Drug abuse With their mothers, serving terms in jail, and with fosters taking care of the children, with time, they realize that the parents they live with are not their actual parents (Geller et al. 1185). Learning that the absence of their mothers in their lives is due to criminal related reasons is disturbing. The kind of emotional and psychological torture that these kids go through is overwhelming. While some, through the help of psychiatrists and counsellors manage through the trauma to become better people, others give in to the emotions. These lead to secondary related stress problems such as diseases, poor health, and loss of appetite, ulcers, and drug abuse. To the extreme cases, some of these children fall into depression, which lead to death (Geller et al. 1188). High cases of delinquency among the children There is a link between poor behaviour among the children to high cases of delinquency in the society. Research by Aaron and Danielle (1472-1474) links the high cases of delinquency among the children to emotional problems. However, other researchers have associated high cases of delinquency among children to poor upbringing. A child having good parental care in the early stages of development is likely to have behaviour that lead to delinquency (Aaron Danielle 1482). Children who grow with their parents receiving adequate parental care and support rarely engage in bad behaviour. However, children who were on their own in their young ages are likely to use drug users, drunkards, or bad tempered (Miller 478). These are the main contributing factors to delinquency, which also affects the developmental states of the child. Reaction of the society High levels of crime and negative social behaviour in the society These are the long-term effects of children, who in their early days did not experience parental love. With the understanding that the father is always absent, the children grow up deprived of parental love and care. Others drop out of school due to poor financial standards of their parents, while others run away from their foster homes. These actions contribute to poor living conditions of these children. Moreover, those who result into drug abuse become addicts. With no money, these children start looking for alternative sources of income to support them. Subsequently, they engage in crime. Others, with the bitterness of their mothers serving term in jail, and the society watching them suffer; take this opportunity to revenge for the pain of their childhood. If in a particular society such children unite, there is an eruption of violent crimes. People lack peace, while others fear for their lives. Some of these children could be young enough to qualify as teenagers. In most cases, these teenagers gang up and engage in destructive crime out of desperation. At this point, the society, through the pressure of these gangs, and with the understanding of the underlying contributing factors, could say, “reverse discrimination!” for the purpose of their peace and the sake of the children too. Subsequently they propose for alternative methods of punishment for these mothers. Conclusion Imprisonment seeks to punish criminals for the various crimes committed in the society. It seeks to instil behavioural and cognitive changes in the individual. However, a punishment becomes torture whenever instead of achieving its goals of behavioural change in the individual; it causes problems to either the individual or the society. This is the main reasoning behind this argument. Women behind bars, despite being acquainted for various crimes, while serving their sentences, lead to the suffering of their children and families. Largely, it also affects the society, due to the violent crimes by the affected children. Recommendations From this research, there is need to consider the kind of judgement passed on women, especially with reference to the dependants in her life. There is no point of causing suffering to a bigger group of people in order to punish a single person. This is like creating a bigger problem while struggling to solve a small problem. Reconsidering these judgements means seeking for alternative ways of punishing these women, rather than putting them behind bars. House jail could be an option as well as community service and hard labour. Where unavoidable, visiting the family on regular basis is important. Finally, the sentence should put into consideration the financial and moral vacuum created by the absence of the mother. 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"The Impact Of Parental Incarceration On Children: An Emerging Need For Effective Interventions." Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal 23.4 (2006): 472-486. Academic Search Premier. Web. 21 Nov. 2013. Philbrick, Candace A., and Margaret A. Fitzgerald. "Women in Business-Owning Families: A Comparison of Roles, Responsibilities and Predictors of Family Functionality." Journal of Family and Economic Issues 28.4 (2007): 618-34.ProQuest. Web. 21 Nov. 2013. Poehlmann, Julie. "Representations Of Attachment Relationships In Children Of Incarcerated Mothers." Child Development 76.3 (2005): 679-696. Academic Search Premier. Web. 21 Nov. 2013. Ruether, Rosemary Radford. "Home and Work: Women's Roles and the Transformation Of Values." Theological Studies 36.4 (1975): 647-659. Academic Search Premier. Web. 21 Nov. 2013. Wendy, Jacobs. “Known Consequences of Separating Mother and Child at Birth: Implications for Further Study.” Origins Inc. (1995). 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