Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Effects of Jailing Noncustodial Parents for Failure to Pay Child Support

因不支付子女抚养费而入狱是许多可能的子女抚养费强制执行机制之一，但关于这种策略被使用的频率、针对谁以及后果是什么，人们知之甚少。因此，本项目有三个目标：第一，使用脆弱家庭和儿童福祉研究(FFCW)的数据，对未支付子女抚养费的监狱进行量化概述；第二，了解法院决定谁因未支付子女抚养费而入狱的过程；第三，了解家庭如何经历惩罚性儿童赡养费强制执行以及这种强制执行策略可能产生的后果。本项目使用混合方法设计，探索因未支付子女抚养费而入狱的频率、分布、过程和后果。研究人员将在德克萨斯州的两个县进行法庭观察，并对监护和非监护父母进行深入采访。这一方法将解释人际和司法层面的因素如何与个人特征相互作用，以塑造个人被监禁的风险。

Jailing for child support nonpayment is one of many possible mechanisms of child support enforcement, but little is known about how frequently this tactic is used, against whom, and what the consequences are. This project, then, has three aims: first, to provide a quantitative overview of jail for child support nonpayment using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCW); second, to understand the processes by which courts decide whom to jail for child support nonpayment; third, to understand how families experience punitive child support enforcement and what the consequences of this enforcement tactic might be.Using a mixed methods design, this project explores the frequency, distribution, process, and consequences of jail for child support nonpayment. The researchers will perform court observation in two Texas counties and conduct in-depth interviews with custodial and noncustodial parents. This approach will explain how interpersonal and jurisdictional-level factors interact with individual characteristics to shape an individual's risk of being jailed.