A Review Of School To Prison Pipeline

1. In the article, The School-to-Prison Pipeline: Rhetoric or Reality, by Aaron Kupchik, he discusses youth introduction to the juvenile justice system. The article argues that schools do in fact shape a child’s interaction with the system and it has to do with the school’s discipline, which Kupchik describes using “the school-to-prison pipeline” metaphor. The article delves into the unhealthy changes which schools have implemented to their discipline that promote the pipeline. He concludes by proposing strategies for reform that address the issue head on.

Most researchers believe that this all start with the introducement of “zero-tolerance policies” that happened at the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School (Amurao). Zero-tolerance policies are when students get severe punishment no matter the circumstance (school-to-prison). This has results in kids getting suspended or even expelled for disrupting class or bringing in nail clippers to school (school-to-prison). Also, the amount of arrests that happen to students have increased by nearly one third from 1997-2007 (Nelson and Lind). This is because of police officers or School Resource Officers (SROs) that have been introduced into the schools. Some argue that the SRO are not trained to deal with children in the sense that the only training they get is a 40 hour class and they have to have two years or less experience in a classroom (Basic SRO). So, why is this such a big problem?

“Tomorrow 's future is in the hands of the youth of today” is not a particularly new sentiment. But what is new, what has become a pressing question, is what is to become of the future if our youth are behind bars instead of in schools? Youth today are being pushed into the criminal justice system at an alarming rate. This issue is known as the school to prison pipeline ─ the rapid rate at which children are pushed out of schools and into the criminal justice system. The school to prison pipeline is a term that came into use by activists in the late 1970’s and has gained recognition throughout the years as the issue became more prominent in the 1990’s. Some activists view policies meant to “correct” misbehaviors, especially in regards to Zero Tolerance policies and the policing of schools, as a major contributor to the pipeline. Others believe that the funding of schools and the education standards are to blame for the rapid increase of youth incarcerations. While the school to prison pipeline affects every student, African American students, both male and female, are more often the victim of discrimination in education. The school to prison pipeline must end, and the trend must be reversed.

Rehabilitation for at risk teens has been an ongoing issue that runs deep in certain communities. When kids at young ages are exposed to stress and have to cope early on with dysfunction they are denied the opportunity to mature and conditioned to commit thinking errors that perpetuate a young offender into an adult offender. To find ways to break this cycle John Hubner accounts his time on the Giddings State School Capital Offenders Program and how a group of counselors are able to combine many strategies in rehabilitating young offenders who have committed serious crimes. Young people convicted of serious crimes are often transferred to adult prisons that institutionalize young people to prison life only increasing the likely hood of

The school-to-prison pipeline in the United States is a figure of speech used to describe the increasing patterns of interaction students have with the juvenile and adult criminal justice systems as a consequence of procedures used by many school systems. A specific procedure would be the zero tolerance policies and the use of officers in schools. Currently in today’s American schools many children of color are being unfairly judged and treated by the public school systems zero tolerance policies. Zero tolerance policies have been implemented in schools in the last 20 years that include inserting school resource officers in schools and cracking down on all behavior that any authority figure may deem as a form of bad behavior. The policy is based upon deterring future misbehavior and is central to the philosophy of zero tolerance, and the effect of any punishment on future behavior is what defines effective punishment (Skinner, 1953). Zero tolerance policies causes the school environment to feel more like a prison and ultimately leads to black and Latinos being judged and guided to the prison system. A zero-tolerance policy orders predetermined penalties or punishments for specific wrongdoings.

It use to be that only violent students that brought weapons such as guns were kicked out of school but as time went on, it become easy for schools to remove students for minor offences. It is easier to send students home and let their parents deal with them rather than spend valuable time and resources to try to solve the issues at hand. However, the impact of sending them home is that the students are frightened and shamed for just being kids.

This study is about the phenomena of students experiencing a transfer from school straight into juvenile and adult criminal justice systems. Heitzeg (2010, 1) presents how this study attempts to explain how the pipeline emerged with the help of media and youth violence. In addition to media, the process of moving youth toward the pipeline is also due to authority’s tendency to target youth according to racial, social, and economic backgrounds (Heitzeg, 2010). The implementations of zero tolerance policies exhibit a trend among African American and Hispanic/Latino youth. “African-American students are referred for misbehavior that is both less serious

• This article examines the effects of enforcement polices in schools dealing with troubled youth. • Racial disparities in regards to discipline of students in schools. • Examines schools in different states • Disuses the collaboration between schools and law enforcement • Finds that there are detrimental effects of the school to prison pipeline • Explains the correlation between stringent discipline, or zero tolerance policies and juvenile delinquency

In the article, The School-to-Prison Pipeline: Rhetoric or Reality, by Aaron Kupchik, he discusses how youth are introduced to the juvenile justice system. The article argues that schools do in fact shape a child’s interaction with the system and it has to do with the school’s discipline, which Kupchik describes using a “the school-to-prison pipeline” metaphor. The article delves into the unhealthy changes that have been implemented to school’s discipline which promote the pipeline. He concludes by proposing strategies for reform that address the issue head on.

The school to prison pipeline is harmful to the education system because it targets students, especially minorities to mold into the criminal justice system. This could be detrimental to their self-esteem and success in school because the pipeline was made to

Did you know, that in the United States alone, Over 200,000 children are charged and imprisoned every year as adults? Early in the 20th century, most states established juvenile courts to rehabilitate and not just punish youthful offenders. The system was designed for children to have a second chance at their lives. “A separate juvenile-justice system, which sought to rehabilitate and not just punish children, was part of a movement by progressives to create a legally defined adolescence through the passage of child-labor and compulsory education laws and the creation of parks and open spaces.”(How to reduce crime Pg 1) Although the view on juveniles committing brutal crimes is nearly inconceivable, it is not a solution to give juveniles adult consequences because the effects of the adult system on juveniles are not effective.

For a portion of their lives, the average person most likely believes that the criminal justice system executes justice and disciplines offenders accordingly. Reflecting upon the United States’ history, it is proven that this is not always the case. When the phrases “school” and “prison” come to mind, they typically have no correlation to each other⎼until the topic of the "school-to-prison pipeline" is introduced. The school-to-prison pipeline refers to policies and procedures within the classroom that push our nation's schoolchildren, especially those most at-risk, out of classrooms and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems. This pipeline reflects the prioritization of incarceration over education. Reform within schools is crucial

Most students exposed to the school-to-prison-pipeline are minority, or students who have history of poverty, or students with disabilities. I believe there are other consequences for misbehaved students. The new “zero tolerance” policy criminalize minor infractions of school rules, while cops in schools lead to students being criminalized for behavior that should be handled inside the school. “For most students, the pipeline begins with the inadequate resources in public schools. Overcrowded classrooms, a lack of qualified teachers, and insufficient funding for “extras” such as counselors, special education services, and even textbooks, lock students into second-rate educational environments. This failure to meet educational needs increases

By law adolescents are not able to vote, purchase tobacco or alcohol, join the armed forces, or sign a legal contract. Children are not permitted the same rights and responsibilities as adults because the law recognizes their inability to make adult decisions. The law acknowledges that children are unable to handle the consequences that come along with the rights that adults have. By allowing them to be charged as adults is holding them to a double standard. Telling them that they are not old enough to enjoy the same luxuries as adults, but they can experience the same punishment as adults if they commit a crime. The law acknowledged the inability of children to make decisions but still allows them to suffer the same consequences as adults. Research demonstrates that transferring children from juvenile court to adult court does not decrease recidivism, and in fact actually increases crime. Instead of the child learning their mistake they are more likely to repeat it. Juvenile detention centers have programs that help reconstruct young minds and help them realize where they went wrong. Prison does not offer this same opportunity. (Estudillo, Mary Onelia)

Adults are held accountable for their actions and expected to abide by the laws and if they do not there are consequences to follow. Some punishments can be as little as a monetary fine, or as detrimental as life imprisonment. Today, some children face these exact consequences depending on their actions. Certain children are held accountable for their actions and punished as adults in an adult courtroom depending on the offense and the jurisdiction. According to Campaign For Youth Justice (2012), “On any given day, approximately 2,700 young people are locked up in adult prisons” (p. 4). This is hard to understand, because the United States has a juvenile justice system that is centered on rehabilitation and reforming youth into law-abiding citizens. Campaign For Youth Justice (2012) also claimed, “On any given night in America, 10,000 children are held in adults jails and prisons” (p. 3). Currently, all states participate in serving justice to juveniles even though it is extremely difficult. Even though all states have a juvenile justice system in place, they are still able to send children to an adult courtroom to be charged and punished as an adult, otherwise known as the term “waived.” Children should not be held to the same standards as adults, there is no formal goal or point in punishing a child as an adult, and lastly, juvenile delinquents deserve the most effective treatment and rehabilitation measures available, which is unlikely in the extremely dangerous adult