Today it seems to be ok that our educational system is receiving less and less funding while the prison system is gaining more and more. Today it seems to be acceptable for our country to have more prisons than award winning schools. Today it seems to be acceptable that we set up our poverty stricken and economically challenged communities for failure. Today we acknowledge This deficit and demand change.
Many take the liking to the word “recession”. With a recession comes budget cuts and set backs. With a recession comes evaluations and investigations on acts that had been overlooked for years. Some of these budget cuts that occur in a “recession” are the last budgets that should be cut. The education of ourselves, our children, and our communities should never be sacrificed during an economical hardship. The way to overcome an economical hardship is through knowledge and understanding. You gain those 2 attributes by being educated. So how are we to ever come out of our economic standing if we cannot be educated due to the funding being cut? Then the government wants to ask “why we have so many children dropping out of school and flooding the justice system?”, “why do we have so many repeat offenders?” and “how about we try toughening the criminal laws”. Our justice system is being flooded because the people we elect to uphold our best interest’s decide is more profitable to keep us where we’re at. The people flooding the jails is not the rich white population, its the poor minority one.
According to Highlands Today, In a Florida School Advisory Council Meeting held in January 2009, the 2008-09 state budget (www.FLGOV.com) showed a $332.3 million cut for education funding but allotted $309 million for new prisons, which is $10 million more then all K-12 construction – (http://www2.highlandstoday.com/content/2009/jan/19/education-budget-cuts/).
How do we explain to our children the statistics of the system being set up for them to be more likely to go to jail than to graduate from high school? How do we explain to our children why everyday prisons and jails are being expanded or built while they learn from out dated, run down text books. Diane Thibodeau from Highlands Today states “Without the proper funding of our schools, we may need those prisons because children will grow up without the proper educational needs and may turn to crime”, and she is absolutely right.
9 times out of 10 a crime is committed for personal gain. The offender wants something that they don’t know how to get otherwise. 9 times out of 10 that offender is from a neighborhood where all they know is taking what they want. 9 times out of 10 that offender is not educated. 9 times out of 10 that offender comes from a broken down home with a single parent struggling to make ends meet. And out of that whole situation legislation decides that creating the 3 strike law will solve the problem.
Now I’m not knocking the law as in some instances I’m sure it’s effective. However, in no way shape or form should the 3 strike law be used as a means of preventing recidivism. To prevent recidivism legislation needs to implement support, resources, programs and opportunities that will enable reunification back into a healthy lifestyle. Living a straight and narrow lifestyle requires education and finances. Well, companies and managers aren’t exactly big on hiring criminals these days. And with a record you are practically cut off from financial aid so even if you did graduate from high school your chances of going farther than that are slim to none. When you lack the resources and means necessary to survive you naturally resort back to what you know, and that is why we have so many repeat offenders.
