Children and the judicial process

Witnessing the arrest of a parent is often traumatic

Police raids on family homes are often an uncomfortable and frightening process for young people and little regard is given to the children’s needs.

Police forces can mitigate trauma by ensuring that an arresting officer has child-specific training:

• A more sensitive approach to arrest when dealing with families.
• Providing a safe place for children to go when houses are being searched.
• Provide families with information leaflets (designed by young people).
• Training of police to be more child-focused.
• If police arrest parents when children are present they should have some kind of special training in child’s needs.  Possibly one member of the police stays behind/or comes back to give information to the children and parent.

All governments and/or state bodies should review their arrest and search policies and procedures in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), giving due consideration to manner of an arrest, the delivery of a timely, age-appropriate explanation to the child at the point of arrest and the means by which the child and their family access support during and subsequent to an arrest.

For further information on the impact of witnessing the arrest of a parent on a child, read the EU funded special edition newsletter focused on judges and police.

The period of uncertainty

Remand detention is the period right after arrest, before a trial or sentencing hearing. This period represents a particularly difficult time for children of those arrested and for remand prisoners. The remand into custody of one parent means the remaining parent suddenly becomes a single caregiver. Where a single parent is arrested, the anxiety around the situation of children left behind can cause immense stress to the parent and children alike. Families find themselves in unfamiliar situations, having to deal with loss of contact, loss of income, legal procedures, involvement of social services in their life, etc. The desire to attend court to support the arrested parent may result in difficulties in arranging childcare and put pressure on the parent remaining with the children at home.

During the remand period, the uncertainty of the outcome of criminal investigations and trial and the lack of information shared with families about visiting rights and procedures can result in additional stress for children who are already coping with the loss of a parent. Immediate family of the person on remand may also be unsure of whether or not to share the news of the arrest and criminal charges with friends and relatives.

In many ways, the time on remand is different to the period of imprisonment after sentencing. Prosecutors and police may be concerned that the accused will try to influence witnesses or try to derail the criminal investigation. For these reasons, in some countries remand prisoners are not allowed contact with the outside world or such contact is severely limited. From the perspective of the right of the child to maintain meaningful relationships and normal contact with their parent (UNCRC Art. 9(3)), restrictions regarding contact with the parent on remand should only ever be in place when absolutely necessary. For further information on the pretrial detention period, read the EU funded special edition newsletter focused on judges and police.

Representing the child’s interests in judicial decisions.

Children are seldom taken into account in decisions such as sentencing.

Considering the child’s best interests before sentencing involves asking questions such as:

• is the parent about to be sentenced the only carer that the child has,
• what will happen after imprisonment, 
• who is going to care for the child,
• where is the child going to be living,
• which prisons are at a reasonable distance from the child’s home?

Other considerations include exploring if there is an alternative to custody for the parent. The consideration of these and other issues amounts to a ‘Child Impact Assessment’ of the consequences of judicial decisions.  By piloting child impact statements, courts could consider the repercussions of a parent’s prison sentence on children’s lives.

For further information on sentencing, read the EU funded special edition newsletter focused on judges and police.

Some of the challenges with prison visits

Recent EU-funded research indicates that 25 percent of prisoners’ children are at risk of increased mental health difficulties; further studies suggest that regular, direct contact with an imprisoned parent helps promote resilience in children.

Contact with an imprisoned parent can face systemic hurdles:

• lack of appropriate visits facilities,
• visits hours that conflict with school hours,
• limited modes of contact, including physical contact at times.

Child-friendly prison design, regulations and schemes help children and parents reconnect—in visits facilities sensitive to children’s age and needs; via IT for spontaneous exchanges about meaningful events; through prisoner-parent support groups that reaffirm a sense of parenthood and enable prisoners better to help their children.

For further information on the impact of visiting a parent in prison, read the EU funded special edition newsletter on prison visits and families.

An adjustment for the entire family

Separation through imprisonment changes family relationships. No matter how often prisoners have contact with their children, and in what form, it is inevitable that they will miss events that are important in their children’s lives, will not be able to give them support and advice on a daily basis, follow their children’s development or be involved in decisions about their lives in a way that they would be had they never been imprisoned.

On release, many prisoners have to ‘learn’ how to be parents again and many children have to get used to having the parent around again. Their time in prison should be used to support those prisoners who wish to do so in providing them with parenting skills and to prepare them for ‘parenting on the outside’. Resettlement plans for prisoners who have children should include the offer of specific support to prepare them for undertaking their parental responsibilities on release. Support should also be offered to the families of returning prisoners.