2. Kupchik suggests that there are three ways in which a child’s introduction to the system can take place. The first being, it is the first setting in which a “child’s deficits become apparent,” which increase their risk of school failure and incarceration (94). Secondly, he insists that students who underperform, academically, are more likely not to graduate. Thus, without a basic education, these underperforming students are likely to pursue illegitimate activity/careers that lead to incarceration (94). Finally, Kupchik explains that the way a school reacts to a child’s bad behavior is important. He argues that a school’s disciplinary process does not curb a student’s future involvement with the criminal justice system, but can potentially catalyze their involvement with the criminal justice system (94).
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
The Urban Institute Study also studied the effect of a variety of Truth in Sentence reforms that were put into practices in the States for the period of the early-to mid-1990’s on their prison population. The study conducted a quantitative examination of crime, arrest, population, and corrections data from seven States that focused on whether State Truth in Sentence reform actually paved the road to changes in punishments for offenders who were violent and also increased the prison population. The study found that possibility of a prison admission given arrest for serious violent offenses did not automatically increase. However, the use of incarceration augmented in four States, but diminished in the other three. But, there was an increase in expected stay depending on the severity of punishment for serious
College has always been used as a means to an end, with that end being their American Dream. Through college, they would gain knowledge that could help them achieve that dream. Over the recent years, with the economic troubles, people have shifted from the idea of
The fourth article that I reviewed, focused on labeling theory. In this article, Labeling Effects of First Juvenile Arrests authors Liberman, Kirk, and Kim focused on how the first arrest increases the likelihood of reoffending for juveniles. The idea of labels triggers “secondary sanctioning” processes. Labeling is a powerful mechanism that can lead to crime.
A person who is incarcerated is being held in confinement in an institution, usually because he is suspected of, or convicted of committing a crime (Edwards). The rates of incarceration are rising every year, which causes many questions concerning the effects that incarceration has on criminals. There’s an argument that imprisonment does not do most criminals any good, and that they simply receive a slap on the hand before returning to society to commit more crimes. They gain the information and contacts of other inmates, which just ensures the law breaker to continue his path. The
“States reported that approximately 9,900 incarcerated persons earned a certificate in the 2009–10 academic year; 2,200 associate’s degrees were awarded, and nearly 400 students earned bachelor’s degrees” Sponsler and Gorgol (2011). Education has the ability to positively impact any individual especially those who face the challenges of incarceration. Although this is not a topic that influential individuals in the U.S. seem to discuss too often, it is something that impacts a large number of people in the institutional system, thus having universal impacts on the rest of the population.
Therefore, the Arnold Foundation’s study reveals that the “hidden costs of jail” are increased rates of recidivism among low and moderate risk offenders when they spend anywhere from two to thirty days in pretrial detention (Lowenkamp, VanNostrand, & Holsinger, 2013). Jail to the general public is believed to be a place where offenders are held for punishment, rehabilitation and ultimately to protect the public. The study conducted by the Arnold Foundation contradicts this belief. Low and moderate risk offenders generally are not rehabilitated from their stay in jail and the public’s safety is not increased by their pretrial detention. Once released from pretrial detention these defendants are more likely to recidivate than if they had been
Most people have preconceived notions regarding the relationship between social class and delinquency. A common assumption is that lower-class juveniles are more likely to engage in delinquent behavior than their higher-class counterparts. Criminologists have performed a large number of studies examining the socio-demographic characteristics of delinquents, which often yielded contradictory results. When analyzing the extent and trend of juvenile delinquency in the United States conclusions can be drawn from estimates derived from arrest records, self-reports, and victimization data. Arrest estimates, self-reported information, and victimization data provide different estimates of the extent of delinquency in the United States (Maxfield et
The dream of going to college is one held by many aspiring high schoolers, especially in the 21st century. College education itself is becoming more of a prerequisite rather than an additional option for getting a high paying job. Jennifer Hochschild, a Harvard Professor, noted in her 2000 publication that “[Public education] represents the nation’s greatest effort to turn the ideology of the American Dream into practice” (Hochschild 2). College, in the terms of the American dream, is a means to an end: the end being a high paying, high rewarding job.
Arrests and detentions can influence the social learning of crime when juveniles are directly exposed to other delinquent people and are being labeled as delinquent. Juveniles are more likely to model their delinquent peers because they are under less direct control at their age or they value their peer’s beliefs and actions because they admire their privileges. Even the certainty/ severity of a punishment whether it be through parents, schools, or the juvenile justice system can help deter juveniles from engaging in
The authors address a significant gap in the literature on school punishment by being the first to examine the cumulative effect of school suspension on future contact with the criminal justice system. Using longitudinal hierarchical generalized linear models, the authors discovered two important findings: 1) youth who receive school suspension have an increased likelihood of experiencing arrest over time, and 2) youth who are suspended are more likely to be arrested than their non-suspended counterparts. From a theoretical standpoint, the authors conclude that school suspension may serve as a negative turning point within the life history of youth who are affected, thus fitting in with the life-course perspective. School suspension is also
It seems the longer criminals stay, again the more punitive the sentencing, the higher chance of recidivism. “Based upon the existing evidence, both crime and imprisonment can be simultaneously reduced if policy-makers reconsider their overreliance on severity based policies such as long prison sentences” (Wright, 12).There is an infinite amount of variables contributing to the rate of recidivism.Three extralegal variables are included in the analysis: age, gender, and race/ethnicity. Age, one of the most robust predictors of recidivism, is measured from the offender’s date of birth, supplied by state Department of Corrections files. Aside from the length of time and stay in prison, each criminal and criminal act is different. Younger offenders are more likely to recidivate than older offenders (Benedict, Huff-Corzine, & Corzine, 1998; Hepburn & Albonetti 1994). Male’s recidivate more than female, (BJS). Both male and female prisoners come from different communities, families, but in the male population alone the criminals are sentenced differently. African Americans (63.9 months) were given longer sentences on average, followed by Caucasian s (58.0 months) and Hispanics (52.8 months) (McGovern, 319). Since African Americans and Hispanics are given longer sentences their recidivism rate is much higher than that of Caucasian . These different variables are major flaws in the criminal justice system that needs to be taken into consideration. Additional problems when they are
Educational achievement is important for all students, but especially for juvenile offenders. Previous research on juvenile offenders has found that incarceration prior to age 16 significantly reduces the probability of graduating from high school (Hjalmarsson, 2008). Unfortunately, research has also shown that juvenile offenders who do not experience academic achievement have a high rate of recidivism and ending up back in the juvenile justice system or even being incarcerated as adults (Bullis, Yovanoff, Mueller, & Havel, 2002; LeBlanc, Pfannenstiel, & Tashjian, 1991; Sullivan, 2004). Academic success, therefore, can reduce delinquency (Arum &