Analyses of the effects of the United States experiment with vastly increased use of imprisonment as a penal sanction typically focus on crime reduction and public spending. Collateral effects have received little attention. However, imprisonment significantly reduces later employment rates and incomes of former prisoners. Large fractions of young men in many urban communities attain prison records and are thus made less able to contribute to their communities and families. Less is known about the effects of a parent's imprisonment on children's development. However, mainstream theories provide grounds for predicting that those effects are substantial and deleterious. Penal policy will continue to be set in ignorance of important ramifications of alternative policy options until research begins to clarify these issues. This research should address the impact of parental imprisonment on children of various ages, include guardians and stepparents as well as biological parents, include parents who receive noncustodial as well as prison sentences. The research will be more useful if it includes the possibility of panel measurement before and after the imprisonment of a parent. It also needs to incorporate comprehensive and detailed measurement of background differences between imprisoned and unimprisoned families and their children to account for ways in which these two groups differ prior to a parent's imprisonment. 155 references