When a caregiver is incarcerated, whether briefly pretrial or for a long sentence, their children are often deeply affected. Lawyers, judges, and probation and pretrial services officers can help reduce these impacts by considering family relationships and caregiving responsibilities throughout the legal process.
- Pretrial decisions, like whether to detain a parent or the bail amount, can have significant consequences for both the outcome of a case and the well-being of the defendant’s children. Tools such as family impact statements can help courts understand these effects and inform decision-making.
- A parent’s sentence is also a child’s sentence. The type, length, and conditions of a sentence can directly affect minor children. Attorneys can use family impact statements, relevant laws, and sentencing memoranda to help courts consider these impacts.
- Alternatives to detention and incarceration can allow eligible parents and caregivers to remain in the community while their cases are resolved or as an alternative to incarceration. Options such as family-focused probation, electronic home monitoring, residential facilities, and community-based programs can help prevent parent-child separation.
The resources on this page offer support for advancing family-focused decision making at both the pretrial and sentencing stages of criminal legal proceedings.
CIC also offers continuing legal education courses and other informational roundtable discussion sessions for legal professionals who want to learn more about the impacts of parental incarceration, laws that encourage or require the consideration of family relationships in sentencing decisions, and the benefits of community-based alternatives.
Toolkits for Defense Lawyers
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Federal Sentencing Toolkit
This toolkit explores the impact of parental incarceration on children and families and provides practical guidance on how family circumstances can inform federal sentencing decisions, grounded in research, law, policy, and global perspectives. -
Minnesota Sentencing Toolkit
This toolkit explores the impact of parental incarceration on children, Minnesota sentencing law, and the growing national and international movement toward family-focused sentencing. -
Minnesota Sentencing Defense Supplement
This primer provides a practical guide for understanding and documenting the impact of incarceration on a defendant’s children, with key considerations and questions to help counsel assess family relationships and the potential effects of sentencing. -
Minnesota Pretrial Toolkit
This toolkit examines the impact of parental incarceration on children and families, explains Minnesota’s pretrial release and bail laws, and connects research, constitutional principles, and emerging national and global approaches to expanding opportunities for pretrial release. -
Minnesota Pretrial Release Defense Supplement
This primer provides practical guidance on how courts can—and should—consider the impact of pretrial detention on a defendant’s children when making detention and release decisions.
Primers for Legal Professionals
COMING SOON
Reports on Alternatives to Incarceration
CIC tracks and researches alternatives to incarceration across the United States. Read our reports to learn about existing and emerging laws, policies and programs.
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Alabama Dallas County Family Preservation Program 2025
In Selma, Alabama, the Dallas County Family Preservation Program provides a family-centered diversion alternative to incarceration for parents. This report examines the program’s development, structure, and outcomes. -
Nevada Family First Program 2025
Sunrise Health Clinics in Las Vegas received DOJ funding to support Family First, a family-based alternative sentencing program. This report examines the program and its services for families involved in the criminal legal system. -
Texas Baby and Mother Bonding Initiative 2025
Texas created BAMBI in 2007 as a pioneering out-of-prison nursery program. This report examines its development and implementation to support incarcerated mothers and newborns. -
Washington Parenting Sentencing Alternative 2025
Washington’s Parenting Sentencing Alternative reduces incarceration costs and reunifies children with parents. This report examines the development, implementation, and impact of its two programs. -
Illinois Children’s Best Interest Act 2024
Illinois’s Children’s Best Interest Act requires courts to consider family impacts at sentencing and allows family impact statements. This report examines its implementation and challenges. -
Massachusetts Primary Caretakers Legislation 2024
Massachusetts’s Primary Caretakers Statute allows eligible caregivers to seek community-based sentences instead of incarceration. This report explores the law’s implementation and impact on reducing family separation. -
California Primary Caregiver Diversion 2023
San Francisco’s Primary Caregiver Diversion Program provides an alternative to incarceration for eligible parents. This report explores the program’s development and implementation. -
Oregon Family Sentencing Alternative Pilot Program 2023
Oregon’s Family Sentencing Alternative Pilot Program offers a family-centered alternative to incarceration for eligible caregivers. This report explores the program’s outcomes and impact on families. -
Community-Based Solutions for Alternatives to Parental Incarceration in Oklahoma & Wisconsin 2023
The report examines community-based alternatives to maternal incarceration, focusing on ReMerge in Oklahoma City and the ARC Maternal and Infant Program in Madison. Both programs support mothers facing nonviolent charges through counseling, treatment, and family-centered services. -
Minnesota Healthy Start Act 2023
The Healthy Start Act allows pregnant women and new mothers serving short state prison sentences to be conditionally released through pregnancy and their child's first year, offering a first-of-its-kind alternative to parental incarceration. -
Considering Collateral Consequences (Episode 3)
In this episode, Ethan Scrivner, Assistant City Attorney for Duluth, discusses restorative justice, prosecutorial roles, and community-based alternatives to parental incarceration. He explores strategies for addressing the impacts of incarceration during sentencing.