Examining the School-to-Prison Pipeline: Sending Students to Prison Instead of School

Authors

Fatema Ghasletwala

Abstract

(Excerpt)

Juvenile delinquents are often thought of as intrinsically evil. These youths are blamed for their own plight, believed to be a result of innate character flaws. However, such an obtuse perception is problematic. In many cases, these juvenile delinquents were made delinquents by a faulty system, namely, the School-to-Prison Pipeline. The School-to-Prison Pipeline is a troubling phenomenon in which students are suspended, expelled or even arrested for minor offenses instead of being sent simply to an administrator’s office. Often, these students have backgrounds of poverty, abuse, neglect, and may even have learning disabilities. Instead of being offered counseling, “unruly” students are “isolated, punished, and pushed out” into the criminal justice system. Furthermore, non-White students are also more likely to fall victim to the School-to-Prison Pipeline. Considering that 40% of students expelled from American schools each year are Black and 70% of students involved in “in-school arrests” by law enforcement are either Black or Latino, this phenomenon is increasingly troublesome. Not only are students being referred to law enforcement unnecessarily, but they are also disproportionately Black or Hispanic.