The New York Times Freakonomics, July 9, 2009 by Jennifer Collins, Ethan J. Leib, and Dan Markel
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/09/family-values-and-the-law-a-guest-post/
To crudely sum up our various conclusions, we basically claim that the state should exercise substantial caution and indeed hostility to most attempts to distribute these benefits or burdens based on one’s family status. This is a controversial stance, but we conclude that in many circumstances there are simply too many costs to the criminal justice system when it gives special treatment based on one’s family ties or responsibilities.