Uneducated and Incarcerated

There are many people that can agree that the operation of the justice system has changed dramatically, and not for the greater good. There are also many people that will agree that education tends to be consistently on the latter end of the spectrum when put into comparison with the justice system. There are even people that will agree that a lack of education tends to lead to criminal behavior. However, the issue of debate arises over the reasoning for the increase in the prison population. Some feel it has to do with the change in prison sentences and the breakdown of crime classifications. Other’s feel it has to do with racial and geographic profiling. While some feel it has to do with the change in our education system, others feel deficiencies in education have no bearing at all.

Jay Mathews, author of School Budget Cuts Not Such Big News, believes that school budget cuts have nothing to do with the type of education a child receives. According to Mathew, a good education is not based upon the type of funding or resources that are provided but rather the staff that is providing the education. I think Mathew poses a very good and truthful argument. Since budget cuts have been going on for many years now and students have still found ways to be successful I could understand his belief. However, students need instruction. They need sufficient and accurate resources to be able to be successful. How can a teacher teach with no resources or materials and the amounts that they do have are continuously cut back more and more? All of these things are provided through a budget that the staff does not have.

Going by the theory that a good staff is what is beneficial to a student’s success and not the budget, how would one describe a good staff? How would you describe a bad staff? A lot of classes are overcrowded and there is not always a sufficient amount of reading materials available. Many school officials are over worked, under paid, and deal with strenuous work days of trying to deal with students displaying inappropriate behavior. There is no class that teaches teachers how to be patient or deal with outward displays of aggression. As a result many students are being expelled and suspended for various amounts of time on numerous occasions. Are this staffs members considered bad staffers because of their form of disciple or are they considered good?

Marian Edelman, author of From School Yard To Prison Yard, states “Numerous studies have demonstrated that students who are suspended or expelled are more likely than their peers to drop out of school altogether”. She later goes on to state “High school dropouts are almost three times as likely to be incarcerated than youths who have graduated from high school”. Considering these statistics, one could question is expelling a student a good decision to make or is a transfer to a school that better suites their needs a more appropriate solution. I think the information presented in Edelman’s argument is something that we all need to take seriously. Expulsion leaves a child with no alternative. Many school districts only have one high school or middle school for its students to attend. If they are expelled from that school they have no alternative other than getting their GED, and many do not have the resources to even learn about those opportunities.

As with any situation, there are going to be certain aspects that contribute to issues within that situation. Not to say that any of the beliefs surrounding the increase in the justice system are wrong, I think they are just merely underlying factors. Actions such as mandatory minimums and the new war on drugs are factors that lead to greater numbers of people being incarcerated. David Kopel, author of Prison Blues: How America’s Foolish Sentencing Policies Endanger Public Safety, describes mandatory minimums as “extremely tough on drug offenses and make drug weight almost the sole factor in setting a drug crime sentence”. I think these mandatory minimums have an unfair standing in the court room and do not shine the light fully on what the actual situation may have been. For example, there are police officials that act as mules. There sole purpose is to befriend organizations that conduct criminal behavior, and then to get any and all necessary proof of the crimes being committed. These officials have predisposed plans that they have to execute by any means necessary.  If the person being investigated is conducting a crime that could call for a mandatory minimum, is that police official going to be persuaded to do his job by getting as much evidence as possible? If so, that persuasion could ultimately lead to a person falling into the mandatory minimum when under regular circumstances, without the mule, they would not have.

The other thing to remember is that not every person committed of a crime is hard core criminal. As Kopel states, “Mandatory minimums tend to fall hardest on people who are not habitual criminals”. What this means is that you have many first time offenders being hit with strenuous sentences while violent criminals that are habitual are out on probation. When you put this thought into perspective, one would think who this statute is actually helping; the person that made a mistake and is not given a second chance to prove themselves or the system putting them behind bars. I can completely understand Kopel’s belief in regards to new sentencing policies as they have increased the prison population. His argument is a very strong and a reputable one that is backed by numerous reliable sources. However, his argument only displays how these policies have contributed to the increase. It does not state how or why people are getting tangled up in these new policies.

Manning Marable, author of Incarceration vs. Education: Reproducing Racism and Poverty in America , believes that this increase in the prison system has a lot to do with racial profiling inside the criminal justice system. Marable states, “According to a December study by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLLU)…on the past 30 years there has been a 500% increase in the number of Americans behind bars…This prison population is disproportionately black and brown”. This statistic would thus support the claim that minorities are more likely to be imprisoned than white people, and possibly suggest racism. However, it does not prove racism. Marable does not provide anything other than speculation, such as the zero tolerance policy in schools, for why this act of racism is occurring. I would not say that the system is being racist. However, I would say that the system, and by that I mean society over all, is failing its minority population.

Minorities make up the bulk of the population living below the federal poverty line. They are subject to living in the worst neighborhoods; they work the least paying jobs and live paycheck to paycheck if they can. Many of them are receiving government assistance, and that assistance barely covers their basic needs. Inner city neighborhoods are subject to price gouging, high rates of homelessness, high rates of school dropouts, and excessive police presence. These same neighborhoods, crowded by minorities, are the same neighborhoods with the highest crimes rates in their states and the bulk of the low achieving schools. From School Yard To Prison Yard states “Inner city schools have the highest numbers of teachers who are inexperienced or don’t have degrees in the subjects they teach” (Edelman). How can a teacher teach a subject if they do not know the subject that they are being required to teach?

I think the cause for the increase in the prison population is a lack of suitable education. A lack of suitable education is the reason why society has so many people living below the federal poverty line. A lack of suitable education is the reason why so many people are getting tangled up in the new policies set forth by legislation. A lack of suitable education is the reason why it may appear that the justice system is being racist. A lack of suitable education is the reason why so many minorities are the ones flooding the state and federal prisons. A lack of suitable education is what is driving the justice system.

It is a teacher’s responsibility to teach. It is the schools responsibility to provide the teacher with whatever resources they may need to instruct their class. It is the government’s responsibility to provide the schools with the funding necessary to assist its teachers. If this flow of responsibility is not conducted accordingly there are going to be disruptions. The disruptions could range from teachers going on strike to students disrupting their classes out of boredom or a lack of constructive learning. No matter the disruption the students are the ones to suffer. They get suspended, expelled, or dropout thus resulting in their increased chances of going to prison. The more people ending up in prison the more funding the prisons are going to get.

As if that is not bad enough, the cycle does not stop there. Once a prisoner is released from prison they are put back into society with limited resources. Because of their conviction, especially if it was a felony, they are going to have a very hard time gaining employment. If the convicted person never completed high school or college, their chances of gaining employment are cut even shorter. They may be ineligible for any type of government assistance including financial aid and subsidy housing. This type of situation makes it almost impossible for a convicted person to live responsibly and without a criminal lifestyle.  The government has established a new prisoner reform program which allows a prisoner to gain work experience, an education, and life skills while imprisoned. The downfall again is once they reenter society those skills become obsolete. All people, especially organizations and employment opportunities, are going to look at is that person’s criminal record and judge them based on such. In turn, they reenter a lifestyle of crime and go right back to prison.

A solution to this problem could consist of the government taking more initiative in rehabilitating its criminals. They have a federal bonding program that is a form of insurance policy to the employer on behalf of the convict that they hire. The government should make this program more widely available and recognized amongst employers and its prison population. As a result, some employers may feel a little more comfortable hiring a convict because they know they have insurance incase that person commits any type of criminal activity at that place of employment. Also, courts are now allowing people to have their criminal record sealed. There are restrictions and guidelines in place which vary from state to state, but for some convicted persons who have never committed another crime or have gone x amount of years without committing another crime, this could be very beneficial. The only problem is this option is available but there is no one educating these ex criminal about it. Another obvious solution is to examine these low performing schools and determine what they need to bring them back up to a suitable standard. As a result their overall performance should increase as well as their student success. They should have less dropouts and expulsions thus creating more students graduating.

 Acknowledging the fact that criminal behavior is never going to become obsolete, the government needs to assess each case on a case by case basis to determine the best solution for the defendant involved. Imprisonment is not always a proper punishment. It does not always deter others from committing the same crime or even deter that person from committing another crime. For some, probation, community service, group meetings, half way houses, or a combination may be the best solution. Basically, expanding prisons and implementing new criminal guidelines is not working. It is not solving the underlying factors that are contributing to the increases in criminal behavior. Government officials need to examine these underlying factors and work on resolving those before trying to better the prison system.