Among those born in 1990, one in four black children, compared with one in 25 white children, had a father in prison by age 14. Risk is concentrated among black children whose parents are high-school dropouts; half of those children had a father in prison, compared with one in 14 white children with dropout parents, according to a report by Dr. Wildeman recently published in the journal Demography.

These numbers were far lower in 1978.

Also consider: when a kid's parent, particularly the dad, goes to jail, the family has a much harder time trying to survive:

While poor urban children had a 3 percent chance of experiencing a period of homelessness over the previous year, those with an incarcerated parent had a 6 percent chance, one study found.

Then there are the behavioral issues, some of which may carry life-long consequences:

Among 5-year-old urban boys, 49 percent of those who had a father incarcerated within the previous 30 months exhibited physically aggressive behaviors like hitting others or destroying objects, compared with 38 percent of those in otherwise similar circumstances who did not have a father imprisoned, Dr. Wildeman found.

While most attention has been placed on physical aggression, a study by Sara Wakefield, a sociologist following children in Chicago, found that having a parent imprisoned was a mental-health tipping point for some. Thus, while 28 percent of the children in her study over all experienced feelings of social isolation, depression or anxiety at levels that would warrant clinical evaluation or treatment, about 35 percent of those who had an incarcerated parent did.

Say hello to the "incarceration generation." We know how to fix it -- end the draconian sentences forced on us by the get tough on crime crowd in the 80's and 90's. If we don't, we'll be paying not just to house their parents, but to take care of them as well.

America, Prison Nation, needs to take a good look in the mirror and realize its sentencing policies aren't working. One size fits all justice does not work. As long as politicians think their tough-on-crime stance will garner them votes, they are going to keep it up. Conventional wisdom has it that being tough on crime is a magic carpet ride to re-election. And the taxpayer is footing the bill for the warehousing of these inmates. Add another generation of kids who need care, either in jail because they follow their parents' footsteps, not having been taught any alternative, or because they are suffering from mental distress and learning/concentration disabilities, and can't learn at school or hold a job once graduated, and it's an enormous financial drain on society.

We should save prison for the violent and dangerous criminals and impose punitive but not draconian sentences that emphasize rehabilitation, vocational training , drug treatment, anger management and social and parental skills for everyone else.

America cannot jail itself out of its crime problem. But it can address it far more wisely, and hopefully spare another generation, and our pocketbooks.

Related: What to an Imprisoned American is the Fourth of July, by Law Prof Doug Berman at Sentencing Law and Policy?