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With the increase in incarceration among low-education black men comes a significant increase in poor minority families forced to deal with the adjustment of an absentee father and partner, and significant readjustment upon their return. In addition, current statistics show a decrease in the pool of black males available for marriage. While much of this is the obvious result of imprisonment itself, researchers believe this may also be attributable to an increasing perception among urban women that this population of men are "high risk," for reasons stemming from the stigma of imprisonment; perceived risks of repeated criminal behavior; and inability to provide financially.

Much of the research into criminal behavior indicates that marriage, by virtue of its inherent responsibilities and obligations, is to some degree a deterrent to aberrant or criminal behavior. Few studies, however, have explored the effects of incarceration on marriage, the prospect of marriage, or on family.

Bruce Western, Professor of Sociology and Faculty Associate at the Office of Population Research at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, addresses these issues in his recently-issued study, titled "Incarceration, Marriage and Family Life," which constitutes a chapter of a book Western is writing about the causes and effects of increasing incarceration rates in America. A summation of the study and its policy implications is available as a Woodrow Wilson School policy brief (PDF format).

In the study, Western analyzes two key data sets and finds that the incapacitative effects of incarceration make it, not surprisingly, unlikely that men will get married while in prison. Both data sets Western employs are used to develop a correlation between (1) the number of prisoners who enter prison married and the rate of divorce after they are released, and (2) the number prisoners who are unmarried when they enter prison, and their chances of getting married post-release. Data is also used to gauge the effects of former incarceration on women and families in terms of domestic violence.

After release from prison, the data show that black ex-prisoners are significantly less likely to get married than men who have never been incarcerated.