ABSTRACT
The notion of a criminal offender who is solely responsible for criminal punishment in the era of mass incarceration is a "useful fiction", because it ignores the profound impact of individual sentences on offenders' families and community networks. Incarceration can have profound and lasting effects on family functioning and relationship stability. Married men who experience incarceration are at a significant risk for separation and divorce, and relationship dissolution is especially likely among couples with children. Poverty and interaction with the criminal justice system are linked, as economic hardship is both a cause and a consequence of incarceration. Just as mass incarceration disproportionately impacts poor men of color and their families, its effects are also concentrated in disadvantaged communities. Mass incarceration also drains communities of economic resources. Though prisoners are overwhelmingly sent from urban neighborhoods, prisons are generally located in more rural areas.
