Crime is universal. Criminals are not limited to a certain race, gender or even age. A few months ago, an eight year old boy brutally murdered his parents. The scariest part of crimes in children and adolescents is that they have a long way to go. The bad habits they learn in their teenage years builds up in their adulthood. And the impact of juvenile crimes are frightening for good citizens of our society. The problem is that schools send students into the pipeline through zero-tolerance disciplinary policies, which involve the police in minor misbehavior and often lead to arrests and juvenile detention referrals. In order to prevent juvenile crimes, the education system–the school–to–prison pipeline— that leads students to prison should be amended.
The NYCLU states that “the school-to-prison pipeline refers to education and public safety policies that push students into the criminal legal system. Schools send students into the pipeline through zero-tolerance disciplinary policies, which involve the police in minor misbehavior and often lead to arrests and juvenile detention referrals.” In short, there must be actionable solutions implemented so that this pipeline does not get worse. On a national scale, the ACLU speaks further about the school-to-prison pipeline when stating that “many of these youth are Black or Brown, have disabilities, or histories of poverty, abuse, or neglect, and would benefit from additional supports and resources. Instead, they are isolated, punished, and pushed out.”
Now, how may the legal system at large address this issue? The NAACP in 2005 stated that “in the last decade, the punitive and overzealous tools and approaches of the modern criminal justice system have seeped into our schools, serving to remove children from mainstream educational environments and funnel them onto a one-way path toward prison.”
Works Cited:
“School-to-Prison Pipeline.” NYCLU, https://www.nyclu.org/en/issues/racial-justice/school-prison-pipeline#:~:text=The%20school%2Dto%2Dprison%20pipeline,arrests%20and%20juvenile%20detention%20referrals
“School-to-Prison Pipeline.” ACLU, https://www.aclu.org/issues/juvenile-justice/juvenile-justice-school-prison-pipelineHeitzeg, N. “Education Or Incarceration: Zero Tolerance Policies And The School To Prison Pipeline,” https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ870076.pdf
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