School-to-Prison Pipeline | American Civil Liberties Union

Ain't that the truth. I grew up white middle class, then opened a business. The cops decided I needed to pay 'protection' money to them. I am a bit of a civil rights buff and nut and I told them to take their protection and save it for themselves. You wouldn't believe how many ways police can try to set someone up. I have a six page long criminal report, all but the traffic offenses were found not guilty. But, hey, they didn't get me behind bars, permanently, like they hoped but they sure raised a lot of money for Boss Hog and everyone downtown at the courthouse.

I love that line in the departed when matt damons character (corrupt detective) says he'll always have a job because for lack of criminals, he'll just arrest innocent people.

2,000 of schools in the United states produce 50% of the dropouts. Look it up.

Ive heard this "pipeline" referred to as the Prison-Industrial complex.
There has been an explosion of private prisons throughout the country, especially in places like California or Florida, that benefit from crime. As someone who had their brush with the system as a juvenile for Class D possesion I have a first-hand perspective of how this kind of thing works. Think of all the components it takes from start to finish: police, lawyers, jails, judges, clerks, etc..
It is a cycle and it's not like that by accident. That's why they say once you're in the system you'll never get out. They got you by the balls.

A cop can only stay in business as long as they got someone to throw in the back of the cruiser.

what a bunch of bullshit. seriously.

i taught in some of those inner-urban schools (in Florida) and we had some of those kids who were diagnosed as "emotionally disturbed". They were disturbed alright. And they were SO protected thanks to the ACLU that they were embedded in the system, coddled, and they could get away with activities that NO ONE else could get away with. There are limits put on the number of detentions they can get, the number of suspensions, you can't remove them from a class and they know it. I had one tell me "I'm diganosed ED, you know, dawg, and I already got all my detentions and suspensions out da way, you can't do shit, so fuck you." That was less than 2 months into the school year.

Meanwhile, these kids cursed us and other students, harrassing everyone, violating every rule you can think of, from tardiness to skipping class, smoking on campus, etc.

We found out that the only way to get rid of the problem was if they broke a law. So we waited, and watched. And when they assualted someone (usually one of us teachers), we pressed charges and the kid was removed from class.

If we failed to find a way to remove them, very often they ended up hurting another student severely and THEN they were arrested.

But no one was going around trumping up charges or anything. These were 1st class sociopaths and they were DESTROYING the educational environment for hundreds of kids around them.

Liberals cry out "oh but they had a rough childhood and came from a disadvantaged neighborhood". Yeah, well so did the 99% of the rest of the kids but they were not sociopaths, and THEY notonly needed and education, they WANTED one too.
So what are you supposed to do? Let a few sociopaths ruin the education for everyone?

It's a problem, yep. But the ACLU needs to figure out how to treat those kids AWAY from the good kids.

When you come out of a so-called home where dealing dope is OK, where there is usually a drug or alcohol problem, where beating on the old lady is OK, where having 5 kids by 5 different fathers is OK, where the father is usually absent, or in jail or prison, repeatedly, where prostitution is a way of life and being a pimp is an ideal to be looked up to, there is a problem. When you keep having kids although you have no visible means of supporting them. When getting into the Social Services System becomes a way of life, and you've never had to work a day in your life, but you still keep getting the check on mothers day, there is a problem. That's working the system.

Without some big lifestyle changes in these inner city neighborhoods, nothing is going to change.

I'm from a middle class upbringing, both parents, decent schools, etc., etc. But I started using drugs, blew off college, did all kinds of stupid shit, all of my own volition, and ended up in and out of jail and rehab. Until I decided that enough was enough, nothing was going to change for the better. It wasn't my parents. It wasn't my upbringing. It wasn't anybodies fault but mine. Until you take responsibility for your own self, nothing is going to change. You can blame society, you can blame racism, you can blame the police, you can blame the system, but it all comes down to what is inside of you, do you want it bad enough to work for it?

A lot of people don't. Some people say that they don't have the opportunities. That's bullshit. If an illegal alien can come here with nothing, and build himself up to be a businessman or even just a working stiff like the rest of us, the opportunity is there. Step away from all the bullshit. Get a job. There are jobs out there. Get up and go to work every day. Quit drinking and drugs. Don't have kids until you can afford them. If you aren't making enough money, get another part time job. I did what it took to straighten my shit out. I know a lot of people that did the same thing, from a different (read Ghetto) background than mine. They agree that the results you get are directly proportional to how bad you want it.

I think if they are recognized as a problem early and then separated into a special school that specializes in giving these kids a feeling of worth they're not getting at home we could solve some crime and make some productive members of society. Instead, we just agonize over the disturbance they cause to the rest of school and send them home, which is probably where the problem started. As a humanity, it's up to us to care enough about their future to give them a chance. They have to be caught early or they're lost for good.

i couldn't have said it better myself@ RaceBannon

This is all set up and designed to go according to plan....As a black youth growing up in a broken home located in a big city My father was in jail and my mother worked multiple jobs to support us...so that left me unsupervised and idle in what is commonly referred to as "the hood". My Options were obviously different out the gate than someone who was a bit more privileged and had a nuclear family base. In Hindsight i realize that the obstacles placed in front of me were there to make me stronger and somewhat of an excuse to not be successful....but this is hindsight...and i can say that only because it was a miracle and nothing short of divine intervention that i made it out of "the hood" alive and made something out of myself.....and what we all have to understand is that only a small percentage will make it out of situations like that of myself and others with similar backgrounds the rest or the worst seems to be doomed in a "Project prison"...:everybody on drugs ..so they sell drugs go to jail at 16...become a hardened criminal...leaving another generation to WASH RINSE REPEAT!!!

wake up

It's not illegal to be born poor. But even most poor people know how to behave. As a volunteer parent at my child's middle- and high school, I've seen the way some kids behave in school, even the kids in my small community. I can't imagine how it must be in large city schools. What is the school system suppose to do with uncooperative, often violent, disrespectful students whose behavior threatens the education of ALL students? Most of these troublemakers are just killing time until they can quit and are in no way interested in doing anything except disrupting.

Sure, there's a reason kids behave this way. I'm sure they all have sad stories of some kind. But having a sad story doesn't give you the right to terrorize the school population with thuggish behavior. I don't know what the answer is to help these kids (probably a lot more attention from parents, and some discipline) but it is not at all fair for a few thugs to be allowed to impact the education of the entire school body. Their rights to be thugs do not supercede my child's right to a safe school environment and the ability to learn.

"Many of these children have learning disabilities or histories of poverty, abuse or neglect, and would benefit from additional educational and counseling services."

Where should these counselling sessions come from, and when? And how many crimes should they be allowed to commit before it's agreed their counselling is not working? How many people should they be allowed to prey on, and for how long?

It's sad that these kids need so much help, but it's unacceptable that the rest of us should have to continue being their victims while someone tries to convince them to join society as productive citizens. If they're going to jail, it's their own behavior that has sent them to jail. You can be poor, abused, or neglected without becoming a criminal.

as we all know the rule in america: it is illegal to be born poor.