When the Innocent are Punished

Peter Scharff Smith is a Senior Researcher at the Danish Institute for Human Rights, Denmark. He has published books and articles in Danish, English and German on prisons, punishment and human rights, including works on prison history, children of imprisoned parents, and the use of solitary confinement in prisons.

"This is a compassionate and gripping account of the impact of arrest, imprisonment and release of parents on children, written from a human rights perspective. For the children, 'always the losers', these experiences constitute a major life crisis, leaving deep traces. Criminal justice professionals are often moved by these realities in their work. Peter Scharff Smith's careful and poignant analysis shows how the prison, families and society interact, and how much collateral damage is done along the way, particularly during times of punitive sentiment and legislation. His book represents applied research at its best, changing levels of awareness, proposing reforms, and adding powerfully to the theoretical literature on the modern techniques, technologies and effects of penal power." - Alison Liebling, University of Cambridge, UK "Peter Scharff Smith has produced a deeply sensitive and powerful look at an extremely important, widespread, but little examined human rights crisis the consequences of mass incarceration on the children of the imprisoned. Of course, these children are innocent of wrongdoing, but placed at grave risk nonetheless by aggressive policies of incarceration that have been pursued worldwide. Smith's insightful analysis is based on a truly impressive number of diverse and corroborating sources of data that enable him to provide both a compelling portrait of this critical problem and offer a number of practical yet urgent and humane solutions. A magnificent achievement." - Craig Haney, University of California, Santa Cruz, USA

• PART I: PRISON, SOCIETY AND PRISONERS CHILDREN 1. Scenes from Family Life 2. When the Innocent are Punished 3. Prison and Society – a Historical Perspective PART II: CHILDREN OF IMPRISONED PARENTS - THEIR NUMBERS, PROBLEMS, AND HUMAN RIGHTS 4. Children of Imprisoned Parents in Numbers 5. The Problems and Reactions of Prisoners Children – a Review of Research 6. Children of Imprisoned Parents and their Human Rights PART III: PRISONER'S CHILDREN - FROM ARREST TO RELEASE OF THEIR IMPRISONED PARENTS 7. The Arrest of Parents – through the Eyes of Children, Police and Social Services; Peter Scharff Smith and Janne Jakobsen 8. Remand Imprisonment - a Stressful Phase of Transition 9. After the Sentence – the Family's Way of Dealing with the Children and the Surroundings 10. Visiting in Prisons – Staff, Children, Conditions and Practice; Peter Scharff Smith and Janne Jakobsen 11. Home Leave and Other Ways of Maintaining Contact 12. When Visits do not Take Place – Parents Who Cut Off or MinimizeContact 13. When Contact is Undesirable and not in the Child's Best Interest 14. When Mum or Dad Returns – Re-entry and Release 15. With Mum or Dad in Prison – Children who Live with their Imprisoned Parent 16. Penal Populism and Children of Imprisoned Parents PART IV: CONCLUSION 17. When the Innocent are Punished – Prison, Society and the Effects of Imprisonment