Prisons and Schools
The United States is distinguished by its prison system. The International Centre for Prison Studies in London compiles data comparing the number of prisoners in each country. This one-minute video shows the statistics:
There are many reasons for our jail situation, but let's start with the schools.
California Schools
California schools have changed. In the last five years, suspensions and expulsions have soared and the dropout rate has gone from 14% to 24%. At the same time, the prison population climbed and the budget for prisons is now larger than the budget for high schools. What started as a social problem has become an economic problem.
The most affected are minorities and the poor.
Because of the size of the problem, the ACLU devotes resources to publicize the situation and search
for answers. On May 17, 2009, the Mid-Peninsula Chapter
of the ACLU invited our Racial Justice Fellow, Saneta DeVuolo-Powell,
to speak. Click on Play to hear what she said about
the sad statistics:
The California Juvenile Justice System
The school situation is related to the Juvenile Detention system
which also has major social and economic problems. We invited David Ball, a fellow
at the Stanford Criminal Justice Center, to talk. Click below to
hear an excerpt of his talk that compares California's system with
Missouri's:
To Learn More
Visit the "Schools for All" website at:
www.aclu-nc.org/s4a
California Statistics