In all, 2.7 million US children have parents behind bars, and “two-thirds of these children’s parents were incarcerated for non-violent offenses,” the study notes.
Not surprisingly, the statistics show large disparities when broken down by race. Among black children, fully one in nine, or 11.4 percent, has a parent in jail. For Hispanics, the number is one in 28, and for white children it’s one in 57.
Leading the Pack
The study also finds that the US now has a prison population larger than the 35 largest European countries combined. The incarceration rate in the US is five times that of Great Britain — 753 inmates per 100,000 people, compared to 151 inmates in the UK. Even the British incarceration rate is high compared to some countries: 96 in France and 88 in Germany, for example.