Transaction Search Form: please type in any of the fields below.
Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 10:00 pm
Time: 10:00 pm
Results for school-to-prison-pipeline
2 results foundAuthor: Anders, Jackie Title: Keeping kids in school and out of court: a study of education - youth justice collaboration in the US, Scotland and Denmark Summary: A good education is essential for positive youth development and transition to adulthood. Young people who complete secondary school have better outcomes in terms of employment, health and welfare than those who leave school early. Education is also a powerful protective factor against involvement in crime, by assisting young people to develop the skills they need to succeed as adults and helping them to develop strong social and interpersonal bonds with peers and supportive adults. The Center for Juvenile Justice Reform at Georgetown University, one of the organisations I visited, summarises the impact of education on crime in its recent briefing on education and interagency collaboration: "education is effective in reducing youth's involvement in crime because it provides not only academic remediation, but also social services, recreational programs, and mentoring opportunities. When youth are equipped with the necessary supports, resources, and skills to become productive members of the society, the risk of delinquency and recidivism decreases" (Farn and Adams, 2016, p. 6). Sadly, too many young people who struggle in school - often due to a combination of learning, behavioural and social welfare issues - do not get the support they need to succeed, and drift, or in some cases are pushed, out of the school system. Many of these young people wind up in trouble with police, and fill our courts, our youth detention centres, and – as adults - our prisons. The close correlation between school-related issues - such as low achievement, disruptive behaviour, poor attendance and truancy – and involvement in offending has been well-established through research. This link is also apparent in Victorian statistics, which show that 62% of the 176 young people in detention in October 2015 had previously been suspended or expelled from school (Youth Parole Board 2016), and that only 6% of adults entering Victorian prisons have completed secondary education (Corrections Victoria, 2011). The prevalence of school disengagement among young people in the youth justice system was recognised as a pressing issue by Judge Peter Couzens, the (now former) President of the Victorian Children’s Court in 2013. His keen interest in this issue led to the establishment in August 2014 of the Education Justice Initiative (EJI), a collaborative project of the Melbourne Children's Court and Department of Education and Training, managed by Parkville College, the secondary school delivering academic and vocational education to students in all secure settings in Victoria. The EJI involves education consultants working directly at the court, to provide information, advice and advocacy for young people to address education issues and help them reconnect to school or training. EJI also acts as a resource for youth justice workers, legal practitioners and the court, providing advice on options for youth and processes and policies within the education system. Details: Acton ACT, AUS: Winston Churchill Memorial Trust of Australia, 2016. 57p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 8, 2017 at: http://apo.org.au/system/files/75102/apo-nid75102-61066.pdf Year: 2016 Country: International URL: http://apo.org.au/system/files/75102/apo-nid75102-61066.pdf Shelf Number: 148077 Keywords: School Crime School Discipline School Suspensions School-to-Prison-Pipeline |
Author: Calero, Samantha Title: The Ruderman White Paper On The Problematization and Criminalization of Children and Young Adults with Non-Apparent Disabilities Summary: Unlike people with visible or apparent disabilities, people with non-apparent disabilities often don't receive the accommodations guaranteed to them under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Due to the "invisible" nature of disabilities like autism, Crohn's disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, dyslexia, or any number of mental illnesses, some behaviors that are a direct result of these disabilities are often seen in school contexts as laziness, inattention, disrespect or defiance. Instead of receiving legally due accommodations for their disabilities, students with non-apparent disabilities are disproportionately labelled problem students. In combination with zero tolerance policies at schools, these students are suspended at disproportionately high rates and ultimately criminalized. The result of this systemic discrimination is that over half of our incarcerated population has a mental illness and another 19-31% have a non-apparent disability, like cognitive or learning disabilities. Our jail and prison systems are effectively warehouses for people with non-apparent disabilities. This problematization and criminalization starts very young-even in preschool. Focus and Findings We examine in detail the disproportionate impact that the School-to-Prison Pipeline, and the Foster-Care-to-Prison Pipeline have on children and youth with non-apparent disabilities. While the effects of these Pipelines are well-known in regards to other minorities, we have found that people with disabilities are over-represented in all the minority groups traditionally impacted by this type of systemic discrimination. These findings suggest that the intersection between disability, in this case specifically non-apparent disability, is a significant factor in systemic discrimination. We also examined the role of trauma in the development of non-apparent disabilities. Trauma-survivors are more likely to develop mental illness and about 35% of them develop learning disabilities. This means that children who have Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are more likely to be caught up in the School-to-Prison Pipeline. And given that children are very often placed in foster care because of abuse or neglect, these findings about trauma also indicate some of the underlying causes in the Foster-Care-to-Prison Pipeline. To better illustrate the impact of this systemic injustice on individuals, we collected personal statements and vignettes from persons impacted by this discrimination. One contributor's words about these systems that work against our youth captured the injustice of it all very incisively: "... you feel like you're being punished when you haven't committed any crime." Conclusion This systemic violation of the rights of people with non-disabilities, not only impacts the individuals funneled into the to-Prison Pipelines, but disrupts and harms communities by having the stress and discrimination and incarceration burdening and separating families. The long-term consequences of incarceration are devastating given the high recidivism rate (almost 50%) and the lack of supports in place to re-integrate people, especially people with non-apparent disabilities, back into the community. Finally, this system of discrimination also hurts the wider community and tax payers given that it costs more than $140,000 a year to incarcerate a young person, and only about $10,000 to educate them. Therefore every one of us is impacted by this injustice in our communities and we must put an end to it. Disrupting the to-Prison Pipelines with more sensible school discipline policies, greater awareness raising, more support for trauma-survivors, more wide-spread testing for non-apparent disabilities, better supports and education of teachers and school resource officers are among the first steps we can and must take now. Details: Boston: Ruderman Family Foundation, 2017. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 28, 2018 at: http://rudermanfoundation.org/white_papers/criminalization-of-children-with-non-apparent-disabilities/ Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: http://rudermanfoundation.org/white_papers/criminalization-of-children-with-non-apparent-disabilities/ Shelf Number: 149863 Keywords: DisabilitiesDisabled PersonsSchool SuspensionsSchool-to-Prison-PipelineZero Tolerance Policies |