The Prison System And The Education Of Our Children

Day after day, millions of inmates are sitting in jail doing nothing productive during their sentence. They only plunge deeper into their criminal ways; they aren’t given any methods to truly rehabilitate themselves or prepare themselves to reenter into society. We are paying to house these inmates every year, and all they are doing is repeatedly coming back. The United States has the highest population of incarcerated people. Unfortunately, we have begun to spend more on the prison system than the education of our children. In order to be fiscally responsible, it is important that we change the way that prisons are run so we can decrease the amount of recidivism and make sure that those inmates are fully prepared to reenter into society and have the confidence to achieve their new goals. Prisons were created to keep those who aren’t able to function as law abiding citizens out of society. There are some people who should be put in jail for their crimes. They’re there because of a mistake they made, but they shouldn’t be defined by their past mistakes for their whole lives. But where is the line drawn on who is a danger to society and who has needs real medical help for their mental issues. The President of Stop the Crime, Charles J. Kehoe argues that, â€Å"the four main purposes of a prison are as follows; provide retribution, incapacitation, deterrence, and rehabilitation†. Retribution is given because they won’t cause any more harm to this society. Their freedom is takenShow MoreRelatedAmerica s Public School System918 Words   |  4 Pages America’s public school system is failing, teachers are not being paid enough. Children are not being equipped with the tools they need at home to thrive in school. I must ask the question, is the public school system tearing our youth apart? The post below shows two pencils broken, one at the point and one at the eraser. When you write anything down on a piece of paper you are creating something new, when you erase you are taking something away. We send our children to school with hopes theyRead MoreCriminalization at School: Zero-Tolerance Discipline Policies Might Be Damaging to Students1309 Words   |  6 Pagesreferred to by many education scholars and activists as the â€Å"school-to-prison pipeline,† a term that refers to â€Å"the policies and practices that push our nation’s schoolchildren, especially our most at-risk children, out of classrooms and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems† (ACLU 2013). The School-to-Prison Pipeline is o ne of the most urgent challenges in education today. This paper will focus on the following circumstances and policies contributing to the school-to-prison pipeline: 1) resourceRead MoreThe American Education System1437 Words   |  6 PagesThe American education system, as we know it, has failed us, and more of our youth are becoming incarcerated at young ages. The educational system has taken a backseat when it comes to funding prisons; youths have chosen to live a life of crime, as education has become less substantial than money and resources allocated to prisons. Although television shows such as Lock Up or Lock Down expose the harsh realities of the wars that are ongoing in prison, the war on education has taken a substantialRead MoreJuvenile Crime And Juvenile Offenders988 Words   |  4 PagesJuvenile crime is at its lowest level since 1987, falling 30% between 1994 and 1998. Therefore it is only fair to acknowledge that the criminal justice system has made tremendous strides in it’s treatment of the typical juvenile offender. For example, there was once a time when there was no separation between the treatment of both juvenile and adult offenders. 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Michelle Alexander is a professor at Ohio State University and a graduate of Stanford law school. She states in her award winning book, The new Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness â€Å"In less than thirty years, the U.S. penal population exploded from around 300,000 to more than 2 million† (Alexander, 6). These young men and women are unable to afford a decent lawyer becauseRead MoreSchool Dropout Problem in America Essay1399 Words   |  6 PagesEducation is very important in our life. It measures our life chances and the window of opportunity to success in the society. Our education institution not only teaches us how to write, read and communicate thoroughly, but also social skills that enable us to become a productive citizen of society. The U.S. have taken enormous pride of its ability to provide top-notch education and freedom of its access . Its the promise of American public education: no matter who you are or where you come fromRead MoreRethinking The Growing Female Prison System1622 Words   |  7 PagesWomen’s population in the prison system is growing vastly, and continues to grow. Julie Ajinkya (March 8, 2013). Rethinking How to Address the Growing Female Prison Population. Retrieved from www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/news. According to the center for progress from the years 2000 through 2009 the number of women incarcerated in state or federal prisons rose by 21.6 percent in comparison to 15.6 percent increase for men. Majority of the women in the prison system struggle with, mental illnessRead MoreAmazing Grace by Jonathan Kozol690 Words   |  3 Pagesabout, or hear in the news. 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Many people have offered theories as to what should be done with the prison system, the extremes