According to the American Academy of Political & Social Science, “America’s prisons and jails have become repositories for high school dropouts, thereby obscuring the degree of disadvantage faced by black men in the contemporary United States and the relative competitiveness of the U.S. workforce”. “Furthermore, evidence shows that spending time in jail affects future wages of minorities at a greater rate than white ex-cons” (2014). By no means, it should be suggested that because an individual is uneducated they will end up in prison. Although, the evidence does show that the majority of offenders are usually high school dropouts. According to Rumberger (2001), “intervention strategies should be put in place that focuses on providing resources that supports, strengthens, or restructure the families, schools, and communities of potential dropouts.
In turn, it has caused a lowering of standards, which has had its greatest impact on minority students. Whether one adheres to Hirsch’s views or not, he drives at one of our nation’s greatest concerns: the inequity of achievement in education. We should move to embrace educators who make education relevant to students, while also maintaining high standards for them. He makes some valid points
Additionally social science has played a peculiar role in the problem of race according to Bobo. Throughout his paper speaks to the social injustice and inequalities that still are very prevalent and insist that affirmative action is necessary to continue to attempt to level the playing field for racial
Compelled to Crime: the gender entrapment of battered black women tells the stories of battered African American women who are being imprisoned at Rikers Island Correction Facility. Beth Richie explains that through “gender entrapment” these women have been marginalized by society and thrown aside, and left vulnerable to violence by the men in their lives. Without any other choice these women turn to fear and are thrown through the revolving door of the criminal justice system, which builds on their oppression. Summary Introduction Richie begins her book with a basic introduction; she explains how poor African American battered women are being restricted through their gender roles, stigmatisms based on their race and social class, and oppressed
From 1861 to 1865, approximately 620,000 soldiers' lives were cut short, not to mention the 50,000 civilian lives that were also claimed. Soldiers lost during that time exceeded the combination of soldiers lost from the Revolutionary War, both World Wars, the Korean War, the Mexican War, and even the Spanish-American War. In comparison to today's population, six million people would die in four years or two percent of our population. The impact of death on the human capital grew in importance. It became familiar in fact, a part of daily life for Americans at that time.
The Aboriginal people lost their culture, their language, their sense of which they are, and their parenting skills. All of this leads to a lack of coping skills, which intern leads to substance abuse, physical abuse, and poverty, which is handed down, from one generation to the next. So generation after generation, Aboriginal children live in poverty, surrounding by violence, surrounding by substance abuse, and the lack of education or help to pull themselves out of the society they live in. This leads young children and adolescents into the gang life. The one place in the world where they feel a sense of belonging and the one place they seem to have some power and control over their destiny.
The Cruel Hand In chapter 4 of her book –The New Jim Crow, Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness – Michelle Alexander discusses the legal and social challenges the drug felons face as they struggle to reintegrate themselves into the unwelcoming mainstream American society, after they are released from prison. She explores “the stigma of criminality” (Alexander 141) that follows these people long after they have served their prison sentence. She starts by describing how these drug offenders have often been made to plead guilty to drug charges leveled against them, in exchange for ‘lenient’ court sentences, without really knowing the underlying consequences of their guilt plea. Firstly, Michelle points out that these freed felons will not only stand disqualified from public housing, but that even private house owners are legally authorized to discriminate against them. Secondly, that these freed felons –who are disproportionately African Americans - are discriminated against when it comes to employment, making them even more miserable.
The article expounds on some key statistics that suggest that young people are 36 more times to commit suicide in an adult prison than a juvenile facility. It also speaks to the outcome of young people who survive an adult facility. They return to society as damaged and dangerous people and are more likely to commit violent crimes and add to the recidivism rate. This article reinforces my opinion and advocates my stance on children in jails with adults. A quote from the article that puts it in perspective says, “The rush to criminalize children has set the country on a dangerous path.
Treatment Versus Incarceration Anthony Williams Ivy Tech Community College Treatment Versus Incarceration One of the most controversial points in America is the debate about Treatment versus Incarceration. We have sectors that seem to believe that you cannot treat and rehabilitate an offender. This sector, which is the Justice System of this country, simply states ‘build more prisons’. We have come to a time where there are so many prisons in some states that it is considered a vital source of income for that state. As we will soon learn, if we do not put some type of behavioral modification program in place we will continue to have the problems of prison overcrowding.
During the last two decades, there has been a gap in America between the lifestyles of those who grew up poor and those who didn’t. Once someone who goes to jail once often are looked down upon by employers and these individuals are now limited to work opportunities, causing the poverty cycle to begin. Similarly, juveniles being tried as adults are increasing populations. Many of our laws have been altered to harshly punish youth offenders. By shifting the sentencing structure, more youth are going to prison for minor crimes.