Dropouts And Crime

Those with less education are more likely to end up in prison or be a victim of crime. One study that looked at incarceration rates found, “The incidence of institutionalization problems among young high school dropouts was more than 63 times higher than among young four year college graduates” (Sum et al.). To further put education and prison statistics together, a simple number from the Justice Department states, “68% of State prison inmates did not receive a high school diploma”(Bureau of Justice). One may wonder, perhaps crime caused students to drop out? Perhaps; but maybe they were involved in crime after choosing to dropout. In an article correlating dropouts and crime, District Attorney Seth Williams was quoted saying, "…Too many people…will tell you it's one of the worst decisions they ever made. You get frustrated and depressed and turn to drugs and alcohol to ease that. It's a downward spiral” (Miller). He and others often point to the fact that crime increases after a student leaves high school. …show more content…
The rich get richer and the poor struggle for survival with little chance of life-changing opportunities to escape their class and experience inter-generational mobility. “ Mean household income rose 40 percent between 1979 and 2000 [and ] more than a third of the total increase since 1979 has gone to the richest 1 percent of all households, and another third has gone to the next richest 19 percent” (Jencks 69). If you had not yet done the math I will explain, that leaves the rest of us, 80 percent of Americans, to divide the last