Compare And Contrast Race Education And Incarceration

Race, education, and incarceration: three factors that are all undeniably linked in America’s present day society. Race has been an issue for the entirety of American history. Institutionalized racism can be seen everywhere – health outcomes, wealth distribution, housing, education, incarceration rates, and so on. One in every three black men will be incarcerated in his lifetime and blacks are five times more likely to be incarcerated than whites – this is no coincidence. There are numerous different factors as to why this may be the case, such as subconscious racism by police force, being raised and socialized in areas with higher crime rates, policy changes targeting specific populations, etcetera.
The public schools a citizen attends
It can be difficult for a student to realize their potential and establish challenging, commendable aspirations such as becoming a lawyer or doctor one day without ever seeing someone starting out in that situation reach similar success first hand. If the wealthiest people they see got to that place due to a life of crime, it becomes easy to envision that lifestyle as the idea of attainable success. According to Porter, “40% of children expelled from public schools are African American… of students arrested or referred to law enforcement while in school, 70% are African American or Latino,” being expelled or having an in-school arrest can have serious psychological repercussions. Harsh policies in segregated schools can fuel a resentment towards the criminal justice system. In addition, 68% of inmates never graduated high school and over half of African American men without a diploma will spend time in prison (Porter). Expelling students can plant the idea of dropping out into their head or further their decision making in that direction, which is yet another risk factor for criminal
Schools have an increasingly critical role in socializing our youth and school segregation hurts minorities in multiple ways. In predominately black, high poverty schools, students are not given the resources they need to succeed. This causes them to internalize the idea that society already fuels that they are just another person destined to fall into the cycle of poverty, lack of education, and incarceration – another poor person of color in the system. A study by the University of Minnesota Law School claims that “research shows that attending a racially segregated school reduces the likelihood that an individual will graduate from high school or acquire a middle-class job,” which increases an individual’s criminality. Numerous theories and studies link financial struggle to criminal behavior. With school segregation on the rise, the number of children falling victim to that statistic is only increasing throughout this time of social change. It has been proven over and over that the desegregation of schools significantly increases a lower income black student’s likelihood to graduate, which is a huge predictive factor for many aspects later in life such as health, income, and of course likelihood to be