Undereducated & Over-Incarcerated

Whether we like it or not, our lives intersect with the Criminal Justice System. For many, this interaction is often a positive one coming from a need for protection or aid. For some the intersection comes in the form of incarceration and penalty. I would like to believe that I made it onto the proverbial "right side of the tracks" because of my excellent use of judgement and reasoning. Could it be that my years of formal education and time spent under the watchful eye of teachers had more to do with it? Could a year or two less of high school education have landed me on the other side of the system?

The link between the undereducated and incarceration rates hits much closer to home than many would care to realize. In this and subsequent blog posts, join me as I explore the impact of education on our society as a whole, the resources at stake, historical approaches and potential future improvements to our incarceration rates. 

Quantifying the improvements in incarceration rates regarding an increase in education can be seen in two distinct categories of impact on both the criminals & society as a whole. These are Social Returns and Economic Returns. Enrico Moretti and Lance Lochner discuss both of these returns in several reports regarding incarceration and education. 

The Social Return of the investment of education comes in the form of giving students a base of interaction within society. This could be as simple as stopping to think before reacting. Having the skill set to resolve conflict in a peaceable way is difficult to quantify but still a very important area of the social return. 

The Economic Returns of education are more easily quantified as well as far reaching. It is simple: more education equals more opportunity for employment. Better employment typically equates to less drive to seek out alternative income. Economic Returns also come in the form of money that is not spent by the tax payers. According to a recent New York Times article, reducing high school dropouts “will be less likely to draw on public money for health care and welfare and less likely to be involved in the criminal justice system.” (Levin) 

Historically the issue of linking education to incarceration has been muddled by many external factors which I will explore in future posts. However, recent action by the President has begun to lay the groundwork for making the importance of education on our criminal justice system a bigger conversation. In the State of the Union Address 2012 he introduced legislation regarding compulsory attendance, the concept of keeping students in school until the age of 18 and how to prevent students from dropping out. This not only recognizes the potential impact of education, but puts it onto the plates of our state and federal governments as well as our society as a whole. 

Follow as I dig deeper into how a high school education impacts and individuals fiscal potential and look at the cost to society for each year of schooling lost. 

 

Levin, Henry M., Rouse, Cecilia E. "The True Cost of High School Dropouts." The New York Times 25 January 2012: 1.

Lochner, Lance. "Education and Crime." International Encyclopedia of Education, 3rd Edition (2007): 14. document.

Lochner, Lance, Moretti, Enrico. The Effect of Education on Crime: Evidence from Prison Inmates,Arrests, and Self-Reports. Report. Los Angeles: UCLA, 2003. Document.

Moretti, Enrico. "Does Education Reduce Participation in Criminal." New York, 2005. 17.