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Implicit bias, explicit bias and bias built into the very codes, laws, policies themselves contribute to the racial disproportionality. in 2017 was 12% and the percentage of blacks in prisons was 33%. The Pew Research Center indicates that the percentage of black adults in the U.S. Black males made up 8% of the student enrollment but accounted for 25% of the male students who received one or more out of school suspension and 23% of the male students who were expelled. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, black students comprised 15% of the student population, but 27% of the students restrained and 23% of the students secluded and 31% of the students referred to law enforcement. For the 2015-16 year, the most current year for which data is available from the U.S. The last striking fact is the disproportionality of exclusionary discipline, referrals to law enforcement, and not coincidentally, incarcerated individuals. Shockingly, it was reported that even though “crime dropped precipitously, ”stock analyst Bob Hirschfield notes that “males 15-17 years old are three times as likely to be arrested than the population at large, and the proportion of 15–17 year olds is expanding at twice the overall population.’’ Rather than being alarmed, if not morally repulsed, by these figures, Hirschfield concluded that it was a ‘‘great time to purchase shares’’ in the new prison growth industry. This belief was exemplified in the Wall Street view that growth in the prison industry and the growing incarceration of young people was good news. The second striking fact was a shift to the belief that market values are more important than trust, compassion, and solidarity. For example, the money previously spent on higher education was instead spent for prisons in New York and California between 19. In addition to not being financially supported by policies that had previously supported people in poverty, the systems the provided the means for individuals to educate and thus “better” themselves were defunded. State, and in most state, benefits were less than 30% of the poverty line. Since the 1996 welfare reform, benefits have fallen to the point where, as of July 2016, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families benefits for a family of three without any other income were under half of the official poverty line in every US. Benefits for poor families with children fell by more than 40% in real terms in most states from 197 to 1996. Several striking facts have been reported in the research. Development of the part of the brain responsible for judgment, decision making, and complex problem solving is not completed in humans until the mid- twenties! Yet there are children as young as five years old being arrested in our nation’s schools for their behaviors, behaviors that are age appropriate or that are brain biological responses to stress. There was no recognition or consideration given to the fact that zero tolerance runs counter to the purpose of education where making mistakes is part of the learning process or that children are not just little adults. Even as crime rates dropped dramatically, more students, especially black and brown students, and students with disabilities were harassed, punished, and referred to the criminal justice system. Minor disruptive behavior that had previously been resolved by school staff became criminalized.Īs documented in Education or Incarceration: Ending America’s school-to-prison pipeline, not all students charged and convicted of crimes were guilty of crimes, nor did the punishment fit the crime. In some states, the school codes of conduct were based on the criminal code. Schools began to resemble prisons as more and more police were placed in schools, metal detectors were added to school buildings, restraints and seclusion, drug sniffing dogs and random searches became a part of the school culture. Soon after passage of the 1994 Gun-Free Schools Act the prison industry became big business and the number of individuals in the criminal justice system, including juveniles exploded. When America got tough on crime in the 1980’s, passing the federal Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, the schools followed suit with adoption of zero tolerance and punitive disciplinary policies. Listen to the interview with Beth Tolley as a Podcast.
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Download School-to-prison pipeline resources (.pdf).Download School-to-prison pipeline references (.pdf).Download the Education or incarceration presentation (.pdf).Interview with Beth Tolley on her research into the school to prison pipeline.