Stopping this correlation early is of the utmost importance, as “for children of color, the absence of a high school diploma did more than relegate someone to the economic margins of society […] By the time they reach their early thirties, 52 percent of young, male, African American high school dropouts have spent some time in jail or prison” (Pettit & Western, 2003). The extension of the connections of these early discipline patterns seen in elementary schools to the prison system makes it important to have an analysis of different behavioral interventions as they relate to black males and seeing if that type of justice remains applicable in a positive, culturally competent manner to the needs of these young men. Speaking subjectively, however, it would seem that eliminating racial bias from exclusionary policies would effectuate a lesser number of African-American students suspended from school, and thus increase in the amount of time that these students spend in classrooms, where they belong.
An overwhelming amount of studies and evidence of the correlations between young black males and exclusionary discipline at the elementary level leave an important task to be handled by the American education system. Tracing the correlations of adult imprisonment back through discipline beginning in elementary school introduces the question of what type of discipline can be most effective, and when certain forms of education should be enforced. While extensive research confirms the damaging impacts of exclusionary discipline, the correlation of this phenomenon and the potential to modify the disciplinary system employed in elementary schools through methods such as culturally competent behavioral intervention, positive behavioral interv...
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... on racial and ethnic disproportionality in elementary schools, especially pertaining to African American males, appears to be inhibited by simplistic dichotomies that intentionally pit personal attributes of elementary school students such as student temperament and disengagement from school against systemic factors such as school administrators’ implicit bias, in order to account for the overrepresentation of certain groups in exclusionary discipline trends such as suspension or expulsion (Gregory, et al. 2010). An outside solution to this dichotomy, such as other methods of behavioral intervention that address the student issue as well as possible implicit biases on the administrative levels, may provide an alternative that can facilitate a paradigm shift in the path of pipelines that leave black males educationally disadvantaged and systemically disenfranchised.
Throughout the semester, we have discussed many different issues that are currently prevalent in the United States, specifically those related to racial discrimination. One specific issue that I have developed interest and research in is that of institutionalized racism, specifically in the form of mass incarceration, and what kinds of effects mass incarceration has on a community. In this paper, I will briefly examine a range of issues surrounding the mass incarceration of black and Latino males, the development of a racial undercaste because of rising incarceration rates, women and children’s involvement and roles they attain in the era of mass incarceration, and the economic importance that the prison system has due to its development.
In Topeka, Kansas, the school for African-American children appeared to be equal to that of the white school. However, the school was overcr...
In the wake of President Obama’s election, the United States seems to be progressing towards a post-racial society. However, the rates of mass incarceration of black males in America deem this to be otherwise. Understanding mass incarceration as a modern racial caste system will reveal the role of the criminal justice system in creating and perpetuating racial hierarchy America. The history of social control in the United States dates back to the first racial caste systems: slavery and the Jim Crow Laws. Although these caste systems were outlawed by the 13th amendment and Civil Rights Act respectively, they are given new life and tailored to the needs of the time.In other words, racial caste in America has not ended but has merely been redesigned in the shape of mass incarceration. Once again, the fact that more than half of the young black men in many large American cities are under the control of the criminal justice system show evidence of a new racial caste system at work. The structure of the criminal justice system brings a disproportionate number of young black males into prisons, relegating them to a permanent second-class status, and ensuring there chances of freedom are slim. Even when minorities are released from prisons, they are discriminated against and most usually end up back in prisons . The role of race in criminal justice system is set up to discriminate, arrest, and imprison a mass number of minority men. From stopping, searching, and arresting, to plea bargaining and sentencing it is apparent that in every phases of the criminal justice system race plays a huge factor. Race and structure of Criminal Justice System, also, inhibit the integration of ex offenders into society and instead of freedom, relea...
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 and more subjective than white students” (Fowler, 2011, p.17). According to a study done by the Public Policy Research Institute at Texas A&M University (2005), “the single greatest predictor of future involvement in the juvenile system is a history of disciplinary referrals at school.”(Fo...
In theory if this trend continues it is estimated that about 1 in 3 black males being born can be expected to spend time in prison and some point in his life. One in nine African American males between the ages of 25 and 29 are currently incarcerated. Although the rate of imprisonment for women is considerably lower than males African American women are incarc... ... middle of paper ... ... King, R., and Mauer, M., (2007).
The delinquency sample drew from 1,406 subjects of the original 1,539 students who participated in CLS. The cohort of 1,539 youth were born in 1980 and attended early childhood programs during the 1985-1986 school year (Reynolds, 1991). The sample was relatively homogenous: 93% African American, urban Chicago, high poverty rates, and high risk for behavioral problems. 1,539 students were broken into two groups; 989 students included who enrolled in CPC (experimental) and 550 children who received community-based kindergarten services (control).
There are various reasons why many juveniles are ending up in the juvenile justice system unjustly. The pipeline commences with inadequate resources in public schools. Many children are locked into second rate educational environments in which they are placed in overcrowded classrooms, insufficient funding, lack of special education services and even textbooks. This failure to meet the educational needs of children leads to more dropout rates which could also increase the risk of later court involvement. Surprisingly enough, some school may even encourage children to drop out in response to pressures from test-based accountability regimes which create incentives to push out low-performing students to increase overall test scores.
Here I sit, in this chronically divided school board meeting, listening to the heated debate about the busing in our troubled school district—particularly in regards to Rio Bueno High School (RBHS). Busing may seem like not such a big issue when you first hear its topic; however, it is much like a melting ice burg exposing its web of issues as its perpetual underbelly reaches the surface. As a guidance counselor here at RBHS, I can tell you that, this busing, desegregation bussing to be more specific, has been a way of integrating other races into school since the Supreme Court Decision in Brown v. Board of Education 40 years ago. Since the 1980’s, segregation levels have increased such that urban schools are now more racially imbalanced than they were prior to the Supreme Court’s 1971 Swann v. Charlotte-Meckelburg Board of Education decision, which legitimated the use of bussing to integrate city school districts with significant residential segregation. Moreover, the gap between Black and White achievement levels, which narrowed from the early 1970s until the late 1980s, has increased during the early 1990s (Douglas, 1996) So, with this evidence, it may seem that even with the implementation of the desegregation busing system, the achievement gap is still growing between races, particularly between Black and Whites and the financial situation and the performance of the schools in this district as a whole are declining.
Many Americans pretend that the days of racism are far behind; however it is clear that institutional racism still exists in this country. One way of viewing this institutional racism is looking at our nation’s prison system and how the incarceration rates are skewed towards African American men. The reasons for the incarceration rate disparity are argued and different between races, but history points out and starts to show the reason of why the disparity began. Families and children of the incarcerated are adversely affected due to the discrimination as well as the discrimination against African American students and their likelihood of going to prison compared to the white student. African American women are also affected by the discrimination in the incarceration rate. Many white Americans don’t see how racism affects incarceration rates, and that African Americans are more likely to face discrimination from the police as well as being falsely arrested.
‘Zero-tolerance’ policies criminalize minor infractions of school rules, while high-stakes testing programs encourage educators to push out low-performing students to improve their schools’ overall test scores. Students of color are especially vulnerable to push-out trends and the discriminatory application of discipline (Gabbard 2013:33).
Importantly, if individuals, especially school officials, took this article into consideration, schools would become a more welcoming and assimilating environment for multiracial adolescents. Contradictory to that, if individuals don’t take this writing seriously, society will continue on a one sided path to viewing multiracial individuals and racism in societies will not make that one step closer to being
When segregation in schools was abolished in the 1950’s, the African American community surely did not anticipate any outcome that wasn’t positive. This is not to say that American schools should remain segregated, however, the sudden shift in the societal structure caused an imbalance in, what was intended to be, an equal opportunity classroom.
America’s school system and student population remains segregated, by race and class. The inequalities that exist in schools today result from more than just poorly managed schools; they reflect the racial and socioeconomic inequities of society as a whole. Most of the problems of schools boil down to either racism in and outside the school or financial disparity between wealthy and poor school districts. Because schools receive funding through local property taxes, low-income communities start at an economic disadvantage. Less funding means fewer resources, lower quality instruction and curricula, and little to no community involvement. Even when low-income schools manage to find adequate funding, the money doesn’t solve all the school’s problems. Most important, money cannot influence student, parent, teacher, and administrator perceptions of class and race. Nor can money improve test scores and make education relevant and practical in the lives of minority students.
Countless studies from respected sociologists, criminologists, and psychologists have suggested several theories as to why juvenile delinquency exists. The theory this paper uses to explain juvenile delinquency is the Marxist perspective of the Conflict Theory. What this paper seeks to achieve is to show how this theory is conceptualized, how it causes juvenile delinquency particularly for African Americans, statistics on African American juveniles, and why it could lead to a life of crime as juveniles transition into adulthood. In addition to this, the government will be examined on how it uses the legal system, law enforcement, and certain officials to control most of the population and contribute to this problem. Lastly, this paper will explore the possible benefits of implementing a living wage to solve juvenile delinquency among African Americans.
Khadaroo, Teicher. A. “School suspensions: Does racial bias feed the school-to-prison pipeline?” The Christian Science Monitor. March 31, 2013. Web.