Educational Experiences: Voices of Incarcerated Male Youth & School-to-Prison Pipeline
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52935/21.19914712.05Abstract
Youth who experience academic failure are at a greater risk for involvement in delinquency. While studies have revealed a myriad of factors for such failure, the perceptions of these youth regarding their educational experiences have proven to be one of the most valuable resources regarding the systematic barriers to academic achievement. The purpose of this study was to understand how incarcerated male youth perceive their educational experiences. Results indicated that some incarcerated youth make meaning of their educational experiences through a series of complex events, changes and circumstances occurring in their school and personal lives. Some of these were positive, while others often exposed them to unhealthy environments, substance abuse and criminal elements. Although their experiences varied, it was clear that failure was an ongoing occurrence throughout their academic journey. Their stories were also rife with suspensions, expulsion, truancy, retention, academic failure, school violence, poverty and parental neglect; furthermore, youth revealed personal challenges that had a direct or indirect impact on their academic journey, including feeling of inferiority due to their academic shortcomings.
References
Aizer, A., & Joseph J. D. (2013). Juvenile Incarceration, Human Capital and Future Crime: Evidence from Randomly-Assigned Judges. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. http://www.mit.edu/~jjdoyle/aizer_doyle_judges_06242013.pdf
Alexander, M. (2010). The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. The New Press.
Assari, S, Moazen-Zadeh, E, Caldwell, C. & Zimmerman, M. (2017). Racial Discrimination during Adolescence Predicts Mental Health Deterioration in Adulthood: Gender Differences among Blacks. Frontiers in Public Health. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2017.00104/full
Baker, M. L., Sigmon, J. N., & Nugent, M. E. (2001). Truancy reduction: Keeping students in school. Juvenile Justice Bulletin. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
Barnert ES, Dudovitz R, Nelson BB, et al. (2017, February 1) How Does Incarcerating Young People Affect Their Adult Health Outcomes? Pediatrics. 2017;139(2): e20162624
Barth, R. P., Duncan, D. F., Hodorowicz, M. T. & Kum, H. (2010). Felonious Arrests of Former Foster Care and TANF-involved Youth. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, 1, 104–23.
Bartollas, C., & Miller, S. J. (2001). Juvenile Justice in America. Prentice Hall.
Basta, J. M. & Davidson, W. S. (1988). Treatment of Juvenile Offenders: Study Outcomes Since 1980. Behavioral Science & Law, 6, 355-384.
Bell, J. (2015). Repairing the Breach: A Brief history of Youth of Color in the Juvenile Justice System. W. Haywood Burns Institute. https://www.burnsinstitute.org/category/publications/
Bilchik, S. (1999). Juvenile Justice: A Century of Change. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/178995.pdf Bojhani, P. (2017). They Were Sentenced as “Superpredators.” Who Were They Really? PBS Frontline. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/they-were-sentenced-as-superpredators-who-were-they-really/
Bryan, N. (2017) White Teachers’ Role in Sustaining the School-to-Prison Pipeline: Recommendations for Teacher Education. The Urban Review. Burrell, J. & Moeser, J. (2014). Transition Planning and Reentry. Desktop Guide to Quality Practice for Working with Youth in Confinement (pp. 651 – 670). National Partnership for Juvenile Services and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
Bryan, N. (2017) White Teachers’ Role in Sustaining the School-to-Prison Pipeline: Recommendations for Teacher Education. The Urban Review: Issues and Ideas in Public Education, v49 n2 p326-345.
Carter, G. (2018). Repairing the Neglected Prison-to-School Pipeline: Increasing Federal Oversight of Juvenile Justice Education and Re-Entry in the Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law &
Policy, 3, 371.
Catalano, R. F., Loeber, R. & McKinney, K. C. (1999). School and community interventions to prevent serious and violent offending. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
Clark, P. (2014). Types of facilities. Desktop Guide to Quality Practice for Working with Youth in Confinement (pp. 72 - 90). National Partnership for Juvenile Services and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
Council of State Governments Justice Center. (2015). Locked out: Improving educational and vocational outcomes for incarcerated youth. CSG Justice Center.
Cocozza, J. J., Trupin, E., & Teodosio, L. (2003). Diverting Youth with Mental Health Needs from the Juvenile Justice System: Critical issues and model approaches. Presented at the GAINS TAPA Center Easy Access Net/Teleconference. Retrieved from www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/index.html
Courtney, M. E., Dworsky, A., Lee, J., & Raap, M. (2009). Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth: Outcomes at Age 23 and 24. Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago.
Creswell, J. W. (1998). Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing among five designs. Sage Publications.
Cullen, F. T. (2005). The Twelve People Who Saved Rehabilitation: How the Science of Criminology Made a Difference. Criminology, 43, 1–42.
Cullen, T. & Gendreau, P. (1989). The Effectiveness of Correctional Treatment: Reconsidering the “Nothing Works” Debate. In L. Goodstein & D. MacKenzie (Eds.), The American prison: Issues in Research and Policy (pp. 4-30). Plenum Press.
Delaney, M. & Milne, C. (2002). Mentoring for Young Offenders—Results from an Evaluation of a Pilot Program. Crime Prevention Conference, Australian Institute of Criminology and the Crime Prevention Branch.
Development Services Group, Inc. (2015). Protective Factors Against Delinquency. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. https://www.ojjdp.gov/mpg/litreviews/Protective%20Factors.pdf
Doren, B., Bullis, M., & Benz, M.R. (1996). Predicting the Arrest Status of Adolescents with Disabilities in Transition. The Journal of Special Education, 29, 363-380.
Equal Justice Initiative (2007). Cruel and Unusual: Sentencing 13-and 14-year-old Children to Die in Prison. Printed by author.
Farn, A. & Adams, J. (2016). Education and Interagency Collaboration: A Lifeline for Justice-Involved Youth. Center for Juvenile Justice Reform, Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy. http://cjjr.georgetown.edu/wpcontent/uploads/2016/08/Lifeline-for-Justice-Involved-_August-2016.pdf.
Feld, B.C. (1999). Bad Kids: Race and the Transformation of the Juvenile Court. Oxford University Press.
Gagnon, J. C., & Barber, B. R. (2010). Characteristics of and Services Provided to Youth in Secure Care Facilities. Behavioral Disorders, 36, 7–19.
Grisso, T. (1993). Developing Challenges to a Retributive Legal Response to Adolescent Homicide. Browning Hoffman Lecture, University of Virginia, Institute of Law, Psychiatry, and Public Policy.
Grisso, T. (2008). Adolescent Offenders with Mental Disorders. The Future of Children, 18(2), 143-164.
Groenewald, T. (2004). A Phenomenological Research Design Illustrated. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 3(1). Article 4. http://www.ualberta.ca/~iiqm/backissues/3_1/pdf/groenewald.pdf
Heilbrunn, J., Z. (2007). Pieces of the Truancy Jigsaw: A Literature Review. National Center for School Engagement.
Houchins, D. E., Puckett-Patterson, D., Crosby, S., Shippen, M. E. & Jolivette, K. (2009). Barriers and Facilitators to Providing Incarcerated Youth with a Quality Education. Preventing School Failure, 53(3), 159–166.
Howell, J. C. (Ed.). (1998). Guide for Implementing the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic Offenders. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile and Delinquency Prevention.
Howe, W. A, & Lisi, P. L. (2019). Becoming a Multicultural Educator: Developing Awareness, Gaining Skills, and Taking Action. Sage Publications.
Howard, T. (2014). Black Male(d): Perils and Promises in the Education of African American Males. Teacher College Press.
Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 (2016). Center for Juvenile Justice Reform. https://cjjr.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Lifeline-for-Justice-Involved-Youth-August_2016.pdf
Justice Policy Institute (2014). Sticker Shock: Calculating the Full Price Tag for Youth Incarceration. http://www.justicepolicy.org/research/8477
Kobrin, S. & Klein, M. W. (1983). Community Treatment of Juvenile Offenders: The DSO Experiments. Sage Publications.
Leone & Meisel. (1997). Improving Education Services for Students in Detention and Confinement Facilities. Children’s Legal Rights Journal, 17(1), 2–12.
Leone, P. & Weinberg, L. (2010). Addressing the Unmet Educational Needs of Children and Youth in the Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare Systems. Center for Juvenile Justice Reform at Georgetown University. http://cjjr.georgetown.edu/pdfs/ed/ edpaper.pdf.
Lester, S (1999). An Introduction to Phenomenological Research. Stan Lester Developments.
http://www.sld.demon.co.uk/resmethy.pdf
Lichtenberger, E., & Ogle, T. (2008). Utilizing Post-Release Outcome Information to Measure the Effectiveness of Correctional Education Programs. U.S. Department of Education.
Lipsey, M. W. & Cullen, F. T. (2007). The Effectiveness of Correctional Rehabilitation: A Review of Systematic Reviews. Annual Review of Law and Social Science, 3, 297–320.
Liddell, W., Clark, P. & Starkovich, K. (2014). Effective programs and services. Desktop Guide to Quality Practice for Working with Youth in Confinement (pp. 360 – 397). National Partnership for Juvenile Services and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
Lynch, M. (2017). Black Boys in Crisis: Eliminating the School-to-Prison Pipeline.
https://www.theedadvocate.org/black-boys-crisis-eliminating-school-prison-
pipeline/
Maguin, E., Hawkins, J. D., Catalano, R. F., Hill, K., Abbott, R. & Herrenkohl, T.I. (1995). Risk Factors Measured at Three Ages for Violence at Age 17–18. American Society for Criminology. Boston, MA.
Maguin, E., & Loeber, R. (1996). Academic performance and delinquency. In M. Tonry (Ed.), Crime and Justice: A Review of Research, Vol. 20. University of Chicago Press.
Martinson, R. (1979). New Findings, New Views: A Note of Caution Regarding Sentencing Reform. Hofstra Law Review, 7, 242-258.
Martinson, R. (1994). What Works? Questions and Answers About Prison Reform. Public Interest, 35, 22-35.
McChristian, A. (2017). How Discrimination is Sending More Black Kids to Prison. https://www.nj.com/opinion/2017/10/how_discrimination_is_sending_more_black_yo
uths_to.html
McCroskey, J. (2006). Youth in the Los Angeles County Juvenile System: Current Conditions and Possible Directions for Change. LA County Children's Planning Council.
McNeece, A., Tyson, E. & Jackson, S. (2007). Juvenile Justice Policy: Trends and Issues. In A. R. Roberts & D.W. Springer (Eds.), Social Work in Juvenile and Criminal Justice Settings (3rd ed.) (pp. 170-185). Charles C. Thomas Publisher.
Milner IV, H. R., Cunningham, H. & Delale-O'Conner, L. (2018). These Kids are Out of Control: Why We Must Reimagine Classroom Management for Equity. Corwin.
New Jersey Institute for Social Justice. (n.d.). Bring Our Children Home: Ain’t I a Child. https://www.njisj.org/
New York State Council on Children and Families. (2008). CCSI Family Involvement and Strengths-based Practices. http://www.ccf.state.ny.us/Initiatives/
Nellis, A. (2017). Return to Justice: Rethinking Our Approach to Juveniles in the System. Rowman & Littlefield.
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. (2020). Juveniles in Residential Placement, 2017. Printed by Author.
Lynch, M. (2017, September 21). Black Boys in Crisis: Eliminating the School-to-Prison Pipeline. https://www.theedadvocate.org/black-boys-crisis-eliminating-school-prison-pipeline/#:~:text=Eighteen%20percent%20of%20the%20nation's,expulsion%20than%20their%20white%20peers
McCluskey, M. (2017, December 24). What If This Were Your Kid? https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/12/juvenile-solitary-confinement/548933/
Pace, S. (2018). From Correctional Education to School Reentry: How Formerly Incarcerated Youth Can Achieve Better Education Outcomes. Texas Journal of Civil Liberties & Civil Rights, 2, 127.
Pecora, P. J., White, C. R., Jackson, L. J., & Wiggins, T. (2009). Mental Health of Current and Former Recipients of Foster Care: A Review of Recent Studies in the United States. Child and Family Social Work, 14, 132–46. Patton, M. (1990). Qualitative Evaluation and Research Methods (pp. 169-186). Sage Publications.
Pottorff, A. (2012). Juvenile Justice –A Look Back and a Way Forward: Creating an Environment that Promotes Positive Outcomes for Youth. The American Institute of Architects. http://www.aia.org/akr/Resources/Documents/AIAB096117
Prison Policy Initiative. (2019, December 19). Youth Confinement: The Whole Pie 2019. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/youth2019.html#:~:text=On%20any%20given%20day%2C%20over,even%20having%20had%20a%20trial
Puzzanchera, C. & Hockenberry, S. (2013). National Disproportionate Minority Contact Databook. National Center for Juvenile Justice for the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. http://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/dmcdb/
Quinn, M., Rutherford, R., Leone, P., Osher, D., & Poirer, J. (2005). Youth with disabilities in juvenile correctional: A national survey. Exceptional Children, 71, 339–345.https://doi.org/10.1177/
Ramirez, S., & Harris, A. (2010). Success and Failure in Education and Criminal Justice: Identifying common mechanisms. In Penelope Peterson, Eva Baker and Barry McGaw (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Education, 3rd ed. (pp. 874-880).
Rider-Hankins, P. (1992). Review of the Research: The Educational Process in Juvenile Correctional Schools (Eric No. 349436). www.eric.ed.gov
Ryan, J. P., Herz, D., Hernandez, P., & Marshall, J. (2007). Maltreatment and Delinquency: Investigating Child Welfare Bias in Juvenile Justice Processing. Children and Youth Services Review, 29, 1035–1050.
Redcross, C., Bloom, D., Jacobs, E., Manno, M., Muller-Ravett, S., Seefeldt, K., Yahner, J., Young, A. & Zweig, J. (2010). Work After Prison: One Year Findings from the Transitional Jobs Reentry Demonstration. MDRC.
Rocque, M. (2011). Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice System and Perceptions of Legitimacy: A Theoretical Linkage. Race and Justice, 1(3), 292-315.
Sawyer, W. (2019). Youth Confinement: The Whole Pie 2019. Prison Policy Initiative. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/youth2019.html
The Sentencing Project. (2017). Racial disparity. http://www.sentencingprogject.org/template/page.cfm?id=122.
Sedlak, A. J. & Bruce, C. (2010). Youth’s Characteristics and Backgrounds: Findings from the Survey of Youth in Residential Placement. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. http://syrp.org/images/Youth%20Characteristics.pdf
Simmel, C. (2010). Why Do Adolescents Become Involved with the Child Welfare System? Exploring Risk Factors that Affect Young Adolescents. Children and Youth Services Review, 32, 1831-1836.
Snyder, H. N. & Sickmund, M. (2006). Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 2006 National Report. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
Sickmund, M., Sladky, A., and Kang, W. (2020). Easy Access to Juvenile Court Statistics: 1985-2018. https://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/ezajcs/
Springer, D. W. (2007). Transforming Juvenile Justice in Texas: A Framework for Action. Blue Ribbon Task Force. University of Texas at Austin, School of Social Work.
Stanton, C. A. & Meyer, A. L. (1998). A Comprehensive Review of Community-based Approaches for the Treatment of Juvenile Offenders. In T. P. Gullotta, G. R. Adams & Montemayor, R. (Eds.), Delinquent violent youth: Theory and interventions (pp. 202- 229). Sage Publications.
Tolbert, M. (2003). State Correctional Education Programs. http://www.nifi.gov/nifl/policy/st_correction_02.html
Tonry, M. (2009). Explanations of American Punishment Policies: A National History. Punishment and Society, 11, 377–94.
Tonry, M. & Melewski, M. (2008). The Malign Effects of Drug and Crime Control Policies on Black Americans. Crime and Justice: A Review of Research, Vol. 37, pp. 1–44). University of Chicago Press.
Tonry, M. (2009). Explanations of American Punishment Policies: A National History. Punishment and Society, 11, 377-394.
Tyner (2014). The Emergence of the School-to-Prison Pipeline. https://www.americanbar.org/groups/gpsolo/publications/gpsolo_ereport/2014/june_2014/the_emergence_of_the_school-to-prison_pipeline/
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families. (2010). Adoption and Foster Care Reporting System: 2009 Interim Estimates as of July 2010. Published by Author. http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/afcars/tar/report17.htm
Unnever, J. D. and S. Gabbidon. (2011). A Theory of African American Offending: Race, Racism, and Crime. Routledge Publishing. Unnever, J. D., Cullen, F. T. & Barnes, J. C. (2016). Racial Discrimination, Weakened School Bonds, and Problematic Behaviors: Testing a Theory of African American Offending. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 53(2), 139-164. Walmsley, R. (2015). World Prison Populations List. http://prisonstudies.org/sites/default/files/resources/downloads/world_prison_poulation_list_11th_edition_0.pdf
Warren, R. (2007). Evidence-based Practice to Reduce Recidivism: Implications for State Judiciaries. National Center for State Courts, National Institute of Corrections.
Wood, J. L. (2019). Black Minds Matter: Realizing the Brilliance, Dignity, and Morality of Black Males in Education. Montezuma Publishing.
Wright, B. & Ford, D. (2016). This Little Light of Mine: Creating Early Childhood Classroom Experiences for African-American Boys PreK-3. Journal of African American Males in Education, 7(1), 15–35.
Wright, K. & Wright, K. (1994). Family Life, Delinquency, and Crime: A Policymaker’s Guide. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
Young, M., & Gainsborough, J. (2000). Prosecuting Juveniles in Adult Court: An Assessment of Trends and Consequences. Sentencing Project.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Journal of Applied Juvenile Justice Services
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
