Juvenile Incarceration Sociology

I’m writing to you, as a concerned citizen of the United States, about the alarming rate of juvenile incarceration in the United States and the problems associated with these rates. Countless young children, especially those living below the poverty line or in poverty, notably Black and Hispanic children are more likely to commit crimes than those living in the middle class or upper class and who are White. It’s simple; children with a lower social economic status are more likely to find themselves committing crimes and then being sentenced than children with higher social economic status’s. According to The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology “People in lower classes are often more visible, less powerful, and more likely to be apprehended …show more content…
Specifically, the school-to prison pipeline is an important issue that needs to be addressed seeing that it is not only an increasing issue, but it happens at school. School is an institution meant to educate and socialize children to form social bonds and teach them to fend for themselves in the real world not send them to prison. Furthermore, the disadvantages faced once in the prison system are relevant since once these children are released they have no education, no opportunities available, and they’re physically and mentally scarred for the rest of their life, not to mention they’re faced with a bleak future. This is all due to the lack of education in the prison system and the sexual and emotional abuse faced amongst other factors. As cliché as this may sound, one of the children sent to prison could have, with the right tools, such as unbiased and disciplined education, cured cancer. In the end, all these issues are important because children shouldn’t be locked away, but instead outside playing hopscotch and running around. Children shouldn’t be looking over their …show more content…
The problems that these children face once inside the criminal justice system are less than ideal. With more children going to prison and more children finding themselves in these adult prisons, they become at greater risk of sexual assault and suicide (notably from the abuse they face, both sexual and emotional). To be precise “Children are five times more likely to be sexually assaulted in adult prisons than in juvenile facilities and face increased risk of suicide.” (Equal Justice Initiative) But sexual and emotional abuse aren’t the only problems faced by those children who are incarcerated. They’ll probably spend, at least half of their lives, in prison, which means they will not only receive their education there, but be socialized there as well. But how does this educational system look like for these children? Well, the educational system in prison simply does not meet the standards that they’re supposed to. The teaching employed is out of date and the children who find themselves in prison, especially teenagers who are supposed to be in high school, do not obtain the credit they deserve. Which leads to lack of motivation. They employ a mentality that consists of “why do I give to do this if it doesn’t amount to anything?” And if these young children find no motivation to learn and therefore not attend the school that is provided by the prison, they are