The school-to-prison pipeline, according to the National Institute of Health (NIH), “refers to a process by which youth who experience punitive punishment in schools are increasingly enmeshed within the criminal justice system.”
Oftentimes, children and adolescents who act out at school are not given any sort of effective behavioral help. Instead, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), they are either incarcerated or are simply sent to alternative schools which are often, similarly to prisons, run by for-profit companies that “are immune from educational accountability standards (such as minimum classroom hours and curriculum requirements).” When students return to the classroom after being placed in an alternative school, they often no longer have the educational skills of their peers and thus continue to struggle in school.
This system, which does not identify and treat the root issues of student misbehavior, not only hurts students academically, but increases their likelihood of being incarcerated at later in life. It is imperative that students are appropriately educated, and childhood and adolescent behavioral issues are addressed in ways that help the student rather than simply making them have a more negative experience in the classroom, therefore increasing the chance they will turn to crime in the future.
According to the NIH, “educational snags, or negative school experiences such as poor educational performance, lack of school attendance, and permanent disciplinary records, have been associated with lower levels of academic achievement, occupation stability, and economic mobility, as well as amplified levels of juvenile delinquency, adult criminality, criminal justice contact, and incarceration.”
In addition to the issue of the criminalization of children causing them to have poor outcomes later in life, children who are incarcerated are often denied not only their right to an education, but they are also denied the constitutional protections adults enjoy.
According to the ACLU, “Youth who become involved in the juvenile justice system are often denied procedural protections in the courts; in one state, up to 80% of court-involved children do not have lawyers.”
The sixth amendment of the United States Constitution states, “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.”
Up to 80% of court-involved children are unconstitutionally denied the right to “assistance of counsel,” which is explicitly outlined, without a stipulation for age, in the constitution.
According to the ACLU, previously incarcerated students or students who have previously attended alternative schools “who commit minor offenses may end up in secured detention if they violate boilerplate probation conditions prohibiting them from activities like missing school or disobeying teachers.”In addition to the issue of poor future outcomes of children punished via incarceration or alternative schools, it is worth noting that the school-to-prison pipeline disproportionately impacts marginalized groups. According to the ACLU, “students of color—who are far more likely than their white peers to be suspended, expelled, or arrested for the same kind of conduct at school —and those with disabilities are particularly likely to travel down this pipeline.”
The American justice system must take care to uphold the principle of “liberty and justice for all,” and to dismantle discriminatory systems such as that of the school-to-prison pipeline.
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