Study after study after study shows there is a vast difference in the likelihood of criminal involvement between kids who have a Dad in jail and those who don't. Try getting a grip on the nature of the problem being discussed before you post again. Maybe there's an American Idol thread you can get in on.
Nature of problem: Dirt bags procreating.
You think the problem is that the dirt bags are in jail. I think the problem is that they are dirt bags. Your studies show nothing more than that criminals in prison have children that don't fair as well as children that have law-abiding, involved fathers. You needed to studies to know that?
Your answer is what? Release criminals back on society for the sake of their children (what about my children?), or should the state take away their children and raise them in a better environment? The latter could be tough as not many of these men are married to the children's mothers, so they don't have custody rights to take. Take them out of jail and they remain dirt bags. They do not morph into wonderful fathers. How do the studies compare between jailed dads and violent, drugged out dads?
Want to work on the problem? Try promoting what is known to almost eliminate poverty and crime: Marriage, school, & work.
Finally, what is "American Idol", Is that what's on down at the social workers office?
Yep.
Did you ever pause to think that this just might have something to do with them having a mom who married someone of the ilk that would commit three crimes to get caught up in the three strikes laws?
It implies that neither mom nor dad are especially bright (if you can count to two, that is a good time to quit).
It further implies that legal compliance is not high on the priority list at home.
I suppose that might make mom a real winner when it comes to raising kids, too.
Small wonder the kids are in trouble.
They should be studying the kids who grow up without dad at home (prison or not) and don't end up either in trouble with the law or in prison. Find out what people are doing right.
One more thing...in a small town, just being "a chip off the old block" will get a kid more scrutiny (amid 'I told you so' at the cop shop) than some "good kid from a good family". That might be a source of bias as well.