What is the school-to-prison pipeline? As the name suggests, this term refers to the disturbing trend in which at-risk youth are pushed out of school and into the criminal justice system. This trend desperately needs reversing, as many students pushed into the pipeline are never able to escape it.
Zero Tolerance Makes Zero Sense
The goal of closing the school to prison pipeline, and how we handle delinquent teens, need to be to keep them out of the juvenile justice system where they are more likely to learn new ways to commit crimes and get into worse trouble. 95% of suspensions, out of the 3.3 million children suspended from school each year, are for nonviolent offenses such as violating the dress code or “disruptive behavior."
This is a reflection of how abysmally wrong we treat juveniles who commit crimes. Zero tolerance is an extension of the attitude that we should get them off the street and lock them up. On any given day, more than 48,000 youths are in juvenile facilities. But is it helpful to put juveniles in with other offenders where they can hone their criminal skills? Research by the Annie E. Casey Foundation (published as “No Place for Kids: The Case for Reducing Juvenile Incarceration”) confirmed the negative effects of locking youths up — confinement increases youths’ chances of being rearrested. Spending 24 hours a day for several months around other problem adolescents doesn’t reduce antisocial behavior.
Real Life, Real People
James is the face of this problem. He had two arrests for shoplifting, the second was for stealing a $100 set of headphones from a mall. For this, the 16-year-old was put on six months of probation with conditions. He had to attend school, take a bi-weekly drug test and not break a 10 p.m. curfew. As easy as it might seem to meet these conditions, James didn’t. After violating his probation for a second time by skipping school for a day, his probation officer and the judge felt James needed to be taught a lesson. He was committed to a state-funded residential facility for four months.
This meant he was unlikely to graduate high school on time and was at greater risk of dropping out. A second-string linebacker on the football team and a wrestler, he missed two seasons of team sports and the work ethic, school involvement, and pride that they can instill. And his single working mother lost his help with the younger siblings, disrupting the positive aspects of his family relations. Throw into the mix that teachers and neighbors tended to view him more negatively after returning from the residential facility, and his transition back to school and the community was rocky. This is just one example of why it is prudent to close the school-to-prison pipeline.
Did the months away from home, school, and community teach James a lesson? Looking at other conclusions from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, one would tend to doubt it. Many youths experience violence, abuse and other forms of maltreatment while confined. Most facilities are not prepared to meet the challenging needs of their wards. Thus, it is unlikely that he took away anything positive from his detention.
The High Costs of Confinement
While tremendous resources are devoted to housing troubled youths away from their homes, few are used to help parents provide more effective supervision and discipline when the youth inevitably returns home. Parents, rather than the state, should be primarily responsible for keeping their kids out of trouble and helping them to do well in school and the neighborhood
It should not be overlooked that confinement costs a lot of money. In Maine and Connecticut, the cost of is $600 per day. In New York, the cost is $960.00 (Justice Policy Institute, 2014). Either is significantly higher than proven alternatives that provide effective services for as low as $70 a day to keep youths in their homes, schools, and communities. Moreover, these proven alternatives have been shown to reduce criminal behavior in the short- and long term.
Recognizing the high fiscal, social and personal costs of taking an adolescent out of the home environment, many states have worked to reduce their rates of juvenile commitments. For example, from 1997 to 2011, the rates of juvenile commitment have been decreased in Maine and Connecticut by 32 and 79 percent, respectively. Importantly, this was accomplished without jeopardizing community safety.
Like James, the majority of confined youth nationwide were committed for technical violations, status offenses, public disorder, or property crimes. Only 34 percent of committed youth were brought up for assault and robbery. As the Annie E. Casey Foundation argues, juvenile commitments should be limited to youth with serious criminal offenses who pose clear risks to public safety. Otherwise, the removal of delinquent youth from their homes, schools, and communities is more likely to lead to harm than good. Not a good return on investment.
While zero-tolerance might have been grounded on good intentions, it’s bad policy. Closing the school-to-prison pipeline is a far better alternative.
Dr. Scott Henggeler is the co-founder and developer of Multisystemic Therapy. Dr. Henggeler has published nearly 300 journal articles, book chapters, and books. He is the recipient of prestigious national awards including Points of Light Foundation President’s Award, Families Count Award, and he was named one of the twelve people who saved rehabilitation by the American Society of Criminology. Dr. Henggeler has also served on numerous editorial and review boards. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia.
Multisystemic Therapy (MST) is an evidence-based alternative to incarceration. MST effectively treats at-risk youth and their families by utilizing a built-in suite of services within the home, school, and community settings. Services include but are not limited to: social skills training, drug and alcohol intervention, mental health services, and peer management.
If you know of someone that would benefit from MST or you would like to start an MST program in your area, please click here.
