Source: The Atlantic
Every day, thousands of youth under the age of 18 are sentenced to jail, taken from their families and separated from their siblings who also suffer, yet are often left to “experience incarceration as a kind of mutual sentence.”
Not much research is currently available on the effects of youth incarceration on the siblings of those who are sentenced. About 80 percent of all data available on the effects of imprisonment on families has not examined how siblings are impacted and how they cope.
One unique study found that siblings of incarcerated youth are at much higher risk for physical and mental health problems.
In 2010, 1.6 million youth were incarcerated, leaving thousands of brothers and sisters with the burden of coping with having their sibling separated and snatched from their lives.
For many, the burden comes in the form of fear, sadness, extra work and emotional strain, anger, or in some cases relief, if the sibling was abusive.
Read full article at: The Atlantic