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

监禁不支付子女抚养费是许多可能的儿童抚养费执行机制之一，但很少有人知道这种策略被使用的频率，针对谁，以及后果是什么。因此，本项目有三个目标：第一，利用脆弱家庭和儿童福利研究（FFCW）的数据，对因不支付子女抚养费而入狱的情况进行定量概述;第二，了解法院决定因不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的儿童抚养执行，以及这种执行策略的后果可能是什么。方法设计，本项目探讨的频率，分布，过程和后果的监狱子女抚养费不支付。 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。这种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，以塑造一个人被监禁的风险。

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.