Researchers had long suspected a link between father absence and crime, but few had access to the kind of large nationally representative database needed to rule out alternative theories. Harper and McLanahan followed 6,403 boys who were between the ages of 14 and 22 in 1979, up through their 30s. A child born to an unwed mother is about 2.5 times as likely to end up imprisoned, while a boy whose parents split during his teenage years was about 1.5 times as likely to be imprisoned. Child support made no difference one way or another in the likelihood a boy will grow up to be a criminal. Family structure was more important than income.
Fathers teach their sons lessons, directly or indirectly, about what it means to be a man.
When boys identify with fathers who are loving and available, the likelihood lessens that they will define their masculinity in terms of rebellion and aggression. Today, the threat that boys will grown up into dangerous men has increased as well. It is a depressing situation. The point of all this is that God's design for the family is still the most important safeguard against dangerous, criminal men. It is time for the society to wake up to what God has made so obvious.