Domestic Conflict

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violence cases is to remove the power abusers have to manipulate the criminal justice system.

There are several myths regarding the ill-effects of parental incarceration on school-aged children. Many supporters of alternatives to parental incarceration believe that keeping primary caregivers, most commonly mothers, out of correctional facilities would result in fewer children being taken from their homes. Contrary to this belief, research from the Center for Children of Incarcerated Parents shows that, “single heads of households and foster care placements of children are not increased by parental incarceration” (Johnston, 2006, p.708). This is possible because rather than children being asked to leave home, they receive new parent figures including older siblings, grandparents, or step parents who aid in the transition of living without the previous primary caregiver. The support of these adults is important to a child in such a transition, but it can also be a sacrifice for the new caregiver.

In order to be effective, punishments must be difficult for the criminal rather than for their family members. When my mother was arrested, my sister postponed her college education and moved back home to assume the role of a parent. Our younger siblings would cry and talk about how their mommy was sick and would be coming home soon. While my father was trying to console his children, he made the mistake of misleading them many times to believe she would be returning sooner than she could. When she was released, she kept showing up at home, even though she was not allowed to move back in. This caused much confusion for the kids, and hassle for the adults who wished she would obey the rules of her probation. Clearly, teaching families to improve communication would better treat those affected by domestic violence than would incarceration.

Currently, fines and jail time are common punishments for perpetrators of domestic violence. Jails are important; they protect the safety and freedom of civilians by keeping criminals locked up. However, not all aggressive offenders are violent outside of their residences. In addition to separating children from caregivers, parental incarceration contributes to familial financial need more than any other involvement with the justice system (Johnston). The practice of fining perpetrators of domestic violence may, in theory, be a rational solution. However, in situations when children are involved the consequences of such fines are punishment not just to the criminal, but also to the children who are dependent on their family’s financial stability. Clearly, our cultures legal response to domestic violence is failing to aid families in solving their problem regarding violent communication styles.

Referring families to therapists or counseling services would likely be the most effective treatment for family violence. Our textbook claims that most physical violence in close relationships is caused by the chilling effect, which is when people stop discussing their problems with each other in fear of the others’ negative reactions (McCornack, 2013). Working with professionals in the field of communication would aid struggling families by educating them about their conflicted relationships.

According to Family Communication Patterns Theory, there are two dimensions that define family communication patterns. These are conversation and conformity orientations (McCornack, 2013). Conversation orientation is a measure of how much a family participates in open and frequent communication. Conformity orientation is the measure of how accepting a family is of individual, or unique, opinions and ideas. Family relationships are most healthy when individuals openly express their emotions, politely disagree with controversial topics, share opinions, and avoid authoritarian roles. In order to create and maintain healthy family relationships, people should stay positive during challenges, share sentiments, and open their private lives to family members (McCornack, 2013). In situations where a parent takes unlawful control over another family member, these three principles suffer. It is next to impossible to want to share personal information with a family member who will criticize, demean, or betray your trust in them. It is also hard to openly share love and joy with those who you struggle to enjoy the company of. As you can see, the study of communication has the power to aid struggling families with loss of interpersonal connection, which can lead to verbal and physical violence.

In order to transition back into the home without reoffending, violent criminals need to practice better communication skills than they had prior to charges. Developing a plan to implement this solution could be difficult. The offender’s family members need protection from further abuse, money needs to be allocated to fund counseling and protection efforts, and a program would need to be organized. These concerns may take time and effort to annihilate, but as said by Theodore Roosevelt, “Nothing worth having was ever achieved without effort.” The wellbeing of numerous domestic violence survivors is worth the effort of allocating necessary resources for correctional reform.

For the improvement of familial communication, professionals should have regular visits with the family both in office and in the household, based on case severity, as funds are available. These professionals would be responsible for assessing communication styles, giving lessons, and leading family members in practices of healthy communication. In order for this service to be most effective, family members would be asked to sign documents prior to treatment stating that they will report any abuse of a family member to their counselor, or the parent’s probation officer if applicable. This way, victims would be protected and the family unit would receive treatment.

There are many options for funding this alternative to parental incarceration. In municipalities where pay-to-stay programs are in effect, money that would otherwise be paid by a convict and his or her support group to have the inmate stay in a correctional facility would be collected as a fine and used to support family counseling programs. Traditional court fines from domestic cases would also be provided to the programs. To make this possible, either places where this money is currently being allocated will have to face budget cuts, or state taxes would have to be raised slightly. The justice system could also advertise their efforts and accept donations on the program’s behalf. Clearly, funding alternatives to parental incarceration in domestic violence cases is nothing short of possible.

Organizing this program would also take effort. Professionals would need to be found, documents written, and