Here’s a hypothetical:
You’re in high school. You keep a cell phone on you for family emergencies even though you know it’s against the rules. You’re caught and threatened with suspension? What do you do?
A new online game from the ACLU uses situations like this to show that the school-to-prison pipeline is more than a hypothetical. There’s a slippery slope that can — and does — lead from one institution to another.
See for yourself. Play the game here.
People of color and students from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to be suspended or expelled than other students, and suspension is the first step on the path toward incarceration. Many schools have zero tolerance policies for students who break the rules, even when the rules are subjective. Even the American Bar Association has come down against zero tolerance policies in schools, comparing them to mandatory minimums in our courts.
Law professor Bernardine Dohrn summed up the problem at a panel discussion at Northwestern Law School in November: “You never want to punish a child by depriving them of an education…that to me is a society committing suicide.” Watch the full panel here.
The school to prison pipeline is real. Not only is there a direct correlation between the quality of our education system and the size of our prisons, but the opportunities offered and discipline doled out in our schools have a direct impact on incarceration later in life.
I wrote today about Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s attempt to rebalance California’s spending toward education and away from prisons. He’s on the right track, but still misses the point in several critical ways. Improving our schools, and ensuring that discipline and alternative programs don’t let kids fall through the cracks, will play a role in ensuring a smaller prison population for the next generation.