Educational Damage In The Transition To Adulthood Analysis

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For my second scholarly article I chose: “Juvenile Arrest and Collateral Educational Damage in the Transition to Adulthood” written by David S. Kirk and Robert J Sampson. David S. Kirk (Ph.D., Sociology, University of Chicago) is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and a Faculty Research Associate of the Population Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin. Kirk's research agenda focuses on three inter-related themes. Number one being the legitimacy of the law and the effects of illegitimacy on crime and the willingness of residents to cooperate with the police. Number two is the effect of neighborhood culture and conditions on criminal and delinquent behavior. Number three is prisoner reentry and the consequences…show more content…
Another theory that can contribute to dropouts is the Rational choice theory. This explains that after an arrest, a student may decide to dropout because of his/her criminal record. They considerate he factors of their criminal record and compare it to students without one. They believe that it makes it harder for them to continue with high school, or even a college profession. The last and most important theory has to be the labeling theory. With criminal charges on a student it can change the way educational institutions view a student. Kirk and Sampson believe that due to school safety students with a criminal history may be asked to leave the school they are currently attending and attend a special program for juvenile offenders. The main point to Kirk and Sampson’s study is to determine whether juvenile arrests impact the decision of high school dropout and future college enrollment. Now to conduct this study, Kirks and Sampson used a multiple- wave research design that included data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago…show more content…
I feel they spent time on this study and wanted to get every piece of data correct. They included theories and backed up their beliefs through multiple data charts and conclusions.They also followed their hypothesis and didn't get too far off topic. This article did leave me with a couple questions that I would love to have been included or answered. Of the students they had interviewed and studied, how many were African American or Caucasian. I believe race plays a huge role in this study. It could have played a factor in the arrest amount due to Chicago’s high African American population. Another question this article left me with was does being arrested as a juvenile in Chicago lead to gang affiliation or increase the likelihood that another offense will be committed in the future? Especially in a city like Chicago where the crime rate seems to be substantially growing each year. If these questions could have been answered, I certainly would have find this article a lot more interesting than it already
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