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School-To-Prison Pipeline

Introduction

This terminology is used to refer the trend of children or youth from public schools ending up in juvenile and criminal justice systems. Most of the children represented here have histories of abuse, neglect or learning disabilities. They are majorly from minority communities. Once they get into the system very few of them find a way out and they becoming repeat offenders and spend most of their lives in and out of prison.

Statement of the Problem

Several factors have caused youth to make the transition from school to juvenile system. A research by Cramer, Gonzalez & Pellegrini-Lafont (2014) showed that African Americans had the most diagnosis of learning disability and subsequently the highest risk group to undergo school-to-prison. Latino are next in that order. These two groups make the most of school dropout and prison populations (Guerino, Harrison & Sabol, 2011). Something needs to be done to find solutions that will help youths who are at risk from being incarcerated. The society should also be sensitized so that biases can be stopped in light of ethnic minorities and crime.

Suspensions and expulsions increase the potential of criminal offences by the youth. A study by Cuellar & Markowitz (2015) showed that the out-of-school suspensions and expulsions more than double the probability of arrest for these youths. Furthermore, Wilson (2014) also argued that the suspensions and expulsions were the main causes of young people engaging in crime and subsequently being arrested and entered into the prison system. Alternatives for suspension should be found so that these youths can be kept busy and away from the life of crime.

As expressed by Cramer, Gonzalez & Pellegrini-Lafont (2014), the number of students’ suspensions have been increasing over the years. This has directly correlated with increased prison-to-prison circumstances. The minority youth, who have been overrepresented in the school-to-prison issue for quite some time, it is a fact that a black youth is more likely to be arrested as compared to a white youth. The minorities face more risks and threats of criminalization as compared to other ethnic groups and this displays a major problem and cause for concern for the lives of these youth. Porter, T. R. (2015) supports this by stating that African American and Latino students going to school and violating school rules can land them in prison. Porter also goes on to note that a recent report issued by the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights indicated that school administrators expelled, and law enforcement arrested, African American students in staggeringly disproportionate numbers compared to white students and other students of color. The likelihood these students will end up in prison is also disproportionately high. Without question, the rise in punitive discipline in our public schools contributes to the country’s astonishing incarceration rate—currently the highest in the world.

Purpose of the Study

Every youth has a right to good education and productive lives. The less privileged youth can only achieve this feat through public schools which are affordable to them. It is this public-school system that has seen high rates of suspensions, dropouts and criminalization of the minority. The policies that have been put in place have only made the problem worse.

The purpose of this case study is to get detailed and in-depth knowledge on the issue of school-to-prison especially where minorities are concerned and identify ways that can help reduce the numbers and rates at which youth minorities like blacks and Hispanics are moving from school to prison. The study will help determine means of ensuring that the minority youth are able to stay in school and not partake in criminal behavior. The study will compare the rates of minorities who are in the pipeline with those of the majority. This will set a perspective of how the system is set up.

There will be the insight from people who have gone through the system and have first-hand information about it like inmates, case workers and the police, parents and religious figures and even the media. These sources will help us set a basis for the study and will come in handy when comparing and contrasting the rates and finding recommendations to the problem at hand.