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School to Prison Pipeline

Filmed Classroom Arrest of South Carolina Schoolgirl Spotlights Police Brutality, Prison Pipeline

BY October 29, 2015
Beth Hawkins, formerly of MinnPost and now a Writer in Residence here at Education Post has a piece up at The Hechinger Report about the troubling events in a South Carolina classroom where a female high school student physically thrown from her desk by a school resource officer. Hawkins dives into the whole premise of law enforcement officers being present in schools and what that can ultimately mean, especially for the low income students of color that are disproportionately impacted.
Once students have had contact with the courts, their chances of graduating from high school plummet. Up to three-fourths of students who re-enroll in high school after confinement drop out. Some 15 percent graduate within four years. “Collateral” consequences that can follow the student for life. A juvenile arrest can make it hard for someone to get student aid and housing, and to pass job screening tests later in life, Levy-Pounds noted. A history with the juvenile justice system can also mean harsher sentences if a person reoffends as an adult.
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Beth Hawkins is a writer at The 74, and formerly was a writer-in-residence at Education Post. Previously she wrote for Learning Curve, a blog about education for MinnPost, where she also covered a variety of other public policy topics. She loves writing for an audience that’s hungry for context and analysis and willing to indulge her many curiosities. Hawkins is the recipient of numerous ...
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