CJL 355-01 Crime In AmericaTheoretical Paper on: Mass Shootings in America, who commits them, the punishment they usually face, why are white people who commit mass shootings treated differently an
School-to-Prison Pipeline
Ashley Ernst
CJL 355-01 Crime in America
December 6, 2017
The school-to-prison pipeline is essentially the connection between youth minorities and the criminal justice system. It was first coined by Bill Ayers in 1996, when he was doing a study on the Chicago juvenile court. He first described it as “the “pipeline” of “youth on the brink of becoming serious offenders”’, than later he began “to see a straight line between failing schools and burgeoning youth jails” (McGrew, 343). A few years later more researchers and academics started to see the school-to-prison pipeline form. In the Clinton administration there was a news release of a new kind of predator, a superpredator, which was a youth delinquent (usually minority) between the ages of 14-18, that was “radically impulsive, brutally remorseless youngsters, including ever more pre-teenage boys, who murder, assault, rape, rob, burglarize, deal deadly drugs, join gun-toting gangs and create serious communal disorders” (Pizarro, Chermak, & Gruenewald, 85). After this was released people became more frightened of youth minority, criminalizing them even though they were the victims.
Merton, a famous sociologist came up with the idea of five factors that come into play with deviance: conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, and rebellion (1938). While Anderson, a social scientist has developed the theory of the Code of the Streets. The Code of the Streets are “a set of informal rules governing interpersonal public behavior, including violence. The rules prescribe both a proper comportment and a proper way to respond if challenged” (Anderson, 1994). When looking at the school-to-prison pipeline, both Merton and Anderson’s theories pertaining to social structures provides reasoning as to why this criminological issue might be happening. When it comes to youth they are criminalized and forced to refer to the code of the streets to make money, learn, or because they have nowhere else to go, pushing them one step closer to the criminal justice system.
Minority youths, or more specifically, African American youths are more likely to go to jail right after high school, than they were to go to college. Due to the uproar about the superpredators, during “the 1990s, nearly all states and the federal government enacted a series of legislation that criminalized a host of ―gang-related activities, made it easier to try juveniles as adults, lowered the age at which juveniles could be referred to adult court, and widened the net of juvenile justice with blended sentencing options that included sentences in both the juvenile and adult systems” (Heitzeg, 5). These rules have not only applied to the criminal system, but schools as well. Due to the new legislation – “mandatory minimums for drug violations, three strikes, increased use of imprisonment as a sentencing option, lengthy prison terms, adult certification for juveniles, [and] zero tolerance” (Heitzeg, 5). This leads more schools started to treat the students as criminals when they misbehaved, instead of the young teens they really are. Zero-tolerance policies are “harsh predefined mandatory consequence without regard to the ―seriousness of the behavior, mitigating circumstances, or the situational context” (Heitzeg, 8), while the three-strikes rule is when someone gets their third felony, they are sent to prison for mandatory 15 years minimum (Clark, Austin, &Henry, 1997), but for the schools, it is the child’s third offense, such as disruptions, where they are expelled, suspended, or sent to the schools police officer.
When students act out or cause a scene the automatic response from most teachers are to send them to the principal’s office. After so many visits to the principals the student is either turned over to the school police, suspended, or transferred to a correctional or trade school (a school that holds the kids that are delinquent’s, truant, or problem students) (Rios, 2009). When looking at some statistics from 2007-2009, 40% of students expelled from schools in the U.S. are African American, 70% of students involved in “in-school” arrests are African American, and 68% of males in prisons do not have a high school diploma. When looking at the prison population, 61% are African American or Latino, when in the general population they make up 30% (Amurao, 3). It is alarming to see a demographic that makes up less than half of the general population, to be the majority demographic within the prison population. Of course some of the people that end up in jail belong there, due to the choice they made in life. For example murderers, rapists, robbers, etc. But what about the people that are selling drugs to make money, of the children that are expelled so they hang out with the wrong crowd? According to Anderson, people resort back to the Code of the Street because the “decent” forced them to resort to what they know and are taught by their fellow “street families” (1994). So, how is it fair to suspend and expel these children, then penalize them when they find other sources of means and knowledge?
Well according to Merton’s social theory “The result will be determined by the particular personality, and thus, the particular cultural background involved” (p.678), meaning it is not personal choice that makes us commit deviant acts, rather it is our environment and social factors that play a role in our lives. With innovation the person has the social structure, but lacks the cultural goals. Meaning the individual has the social setting to thrive, but lacks the incentives to reach the societal goals. The individual may want to reach the societal goals but due to their economic standing, and social disenfranchisement, they are unable to obtain such goals. As Rios has shown through much of his research, young minorities in impoverished neighborhoods may be in a constant battle with wanting to succeed at first, but due to society constantly pushing them down, they decide to go an alternative route. On one hand the student wants to do good in school and in society, but they are seen and treated as delinquents. While on the other hand students do not care for society’s way of learning, and chooses the Code of the Streets as a way to live (2011). When on the streets the men become more concerned with manhood and the way they are perceived, rather than what they learned in school.
When looking at Merton’s theory he is suggesting why certain phases of social structure constitute a normal response (1938), while others are not normal. “Discovering how some social structures exert a definite pressure upon certain persons in the society to engage in nonconformist rather than conformist conduct” (Merton, p.672). Instead of explaining why the crime happens, he explains why the response that were given, are given. In the past this theory has been applied to fraud and theft, and the importance society has put on wealth. In order for some people to obtain this goal they must do whatever it takes, resulting in fraud and/ or theft. In the context of the school-to-prison pipeline, innovation and the Code of the Streets, can either hurt or help the children who are siphoned into the system. If society did not criminalize the youth they could stick to the traditional ways of earning money and knowledge, instead of turning to the streets.
To restate innovation is when someone has the right social resources, but they lack the cultural goals. The Code of the Streets can be seen in Punished: Policing the lives of young Black and Latino boys, where the youth have a different language and social understanding from the rest of society. The dress code is different, the hand signals, body language, honor, things that people usually would not think to be a sigh of disrespect- stepping on someone’s new shoes, or talking to someone’s girl for too long- are, and the way to handle the situation is different. The youth are exposed to social structures but choose to go against the cultural norms (Anderson, 1994). Youth routinely revert to the code because it has often proven more helpful to them, then society has. In the past youth have been exposed to police officials and have been let down, showing them the system was against them and not for them, forcing them to take matters into their own hands. One boy was hanging out at park with a few friends and all of a sudden a few police men approached the boys. The one went to pull his pants up to show some respect, and instead was shoved to the ground and roughed up (Rios, 2009). The Jena six are also a great example on how the school systems pushes students towards the criminal justice system. In September 2006, a couple of boys sat under a “white” tree, then the next day found three nooses hanging from the branches. Six African American students then beat up a White boy that was associated with the children who hung the noses (Boyd, 2009). After the beating the six students were prosecuted with battery and conspiracy, after the chargers were dropped from attempt murder and conspiracy. These students were penalized for sticking up for themselves, while the white students had no consequences for hanging the nooses, and clamming a tree. Due to the environment and these type of interactions, many youth have come to believe in the Code of the Streets as the only way of survival.
When a system continuously criminalizes a certain group or demographic “the emphasis upon certain goals may vary independently of the degree of emphasis upon institutional means” (Merton, p.673). The more and more youth minorities are discriminated against and criminalized the more they are pushed to the criminal life. When zero-tolerance policies are brought into schools, more students end up being suspended or dropping out due to multiple infractions, on many occasions for minor things (Brent, 2016). According to the School Survey on Crime and safety, schools across the U.S have increased security measure, while misbehavior has gone down. Due to the increase of security measures in 2009, harsher punishments were utilized resulting in
“433,800 events. Of these, three-quarters resulted in a suspension for five or more days; one-fifth resulted in transfers to a specialized school; and just under one-in-ten led to expulsion. Though the overall percentage of schools using serious disciplinary actions has declined since 1999, there is no significant difference in the form or frequency of punishments utilized” (Brent, 522).
As Rios observed when he followed a group minority youth in California, some students would cough and get sent to the principles for class disruption, and if that was their third time they would get suspended (2011). Many of youth that were suspended talked about the activities they would get involved with, due to them not being school. Some of the youth stayed home, while others went out and hung out with the other youth on the streets. A couple of the boys even said they learned more on the streets than they did in school, because on the streets they were seen as men, not delinquent’s that were “too stupid” to learn (Rios, 2011).
The more the negative image grows the more the youth feel they need to fight back, and stand up for themselves, leading some to the arms of the Code of the Streets. According to Merton’s theory, when there is an unequal distribution of wealth people will do what they need to do to survive. “Poverty affects education outcomes for children, and particularly children of color fare worse than nonminority children”, and when African American’s make up 39.6% of poverty (Mallett, 2017), this further criminalizes the youth, even though they have no control over their economic standing. Due to this the children that are criminalized in school, may feel they need to fight back to show they are worth the time and education, like the rest of the students. In the case of the school-to-prison pipeline, the minority youth may turn to the streets when they are shunned and criminalized in society. Due to the lack of education, money, and resources, the youth have to fend for themselves, causing them to break the law if need be.
While these theories have some strong points as to why these youth are more likely to go to prison then college, they do not give recognition to other social classes or mental illnesses. Merton shows the five classifications of delinquency, but he forgets to expand that to all social classes. He states that crime happens because of poverty and the unequal distribution of wealth, but in upper –middle, and high class people, crime still occurs. This theory does not expand into other class levels of crime, creating a bias towards impoverished people, further criminalizing them by stating lower class (minorities usually) are the only ones capable of crime. It is clear that the lack of social resources and disenfranchisement can have an effect on the way people react to situations, but further research should be done to get a better understanding of crime in all social classes. While the Code of the Streets, like Merton, puts emphasis on the poor communities, and how they handle living life based on social norms, and the environment they grow up in. The Code states that “simply living in such an environment places young people at special risk of falling victim to aggressive behavior, even though other forces can counteract the negative influences” (Anderson, 1994). He is saying that by living in a bad environment, as these youth do, they will be more exposed to violent behavior. As this presents to be true for some, it does not apply to everyone. Some youth that live in bad neighborhoods may never get involved in violent behaviors, while others that is all they know. On the other hand some youth in upper, and high class neighborhoods could be more violent than their counter parts.
Both theories apply to the School-to-Prison pipeline due to the societal norms and goals that are placed on the youth. Some youth go to school ready to learn and expand their minds, but due to social stigmas they are seen as less than others. This results in them finding other means of knowledge, like the streets, where their counterparts are more than willing to teach people true lessons, such as manhood. By applying these theories and focusing on the main issues, criminalizing the youth when they are the victims, as a society we can break the pipeline, and focus on bettering the education system.
References
Amurao, C. Fact Sheet: How Bad is the School-to-Prison Pipeline. Retrieved from: http://bronxenvision.enschool.org/ourpages/auto/2014/3/17/53660247/A3%20Fact%20Sheet%20_%20How%20Bad%20is%20the%20School%20to%20Prison%20Pipeline.pdf.
Anderson, E., (1994). The Code of the Streets. The Atlantic. Retrieved from: https://blackboard.roosevelt.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-1716762-dt-content-rid-3913964_1/courses/12810.201810/The%20Code%20of%20the%20Streets%20-%20The%20Atlantic.pdf.
Boyd, T. M., (2009). Confronting Racial Disparity: Legislative Responses to the School-to-Prison Pipeline. Retrieved from:
http://harvardcrcl.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/571-580.pdf.
Brent, J.J., (2016). Placing the criminalization of school discipline in economic context. Sage Journals, Retrieved from http://journals.sagepub.com.ezproxy.roosevelt.edu:2048/doi/pdf/10.1177/1462474516642858.
Clark, J., Austin, J., & Henry, D.A., (1997). Three Strikes and You’re Out: A Review of State Legislation. National Institute of Justice Retrieved from:
https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/165369.pdf.
Heitzeg, N.A., (2009). Education or Incarceration: Zero Tolerance Policies and the School to Prison Pipeline. Retrieved from:
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ870076.pdf.
Mallett, C.A. (2017). The School-to-prison pipeline: Disproportionate impact on vulnerable children and adolescents. Sage Journals, Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/Ashley/Downloads/0013124516644053.pdf.
McGrew, K. (2016). The dangers of pipeline thinking: How the school-to-prison metaphor squeeze out complexity. Educational Theory, 66(3), 341-367.
Merton, R.K. (1938). Social structures and anomie. American Sociological Review, 3, 672-678.
Pizarro, J.M., Chermak, S.M., & Gruenewald, J.A. (2007). Juvenile “Super-Predators” in the News: A Comparison of Adult and Juvenile Homicides. Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture, 14(1), 84-111. Retrieved from: http://www.albany.edu/scj/jcjpc/vol14is1/pizarro.pdf.
Rios, V. (2009). The consequences of the criminal justice pipeline on Black and Latino masculinity. ANNALS, retrieved from http://journals.sagepub.com.ezproxy.roosevelt.edu:2048/doi/pdf/10.1177/0002716208330489.
Rios, V. (2011). Punished: Policing the lives of Black and Latino boys. New York, NY: New York University Press.
