Nirvi Shah
Unlikely Allies Call for Shifting Spending from Prisons to Schools
Published Online: April 8, 2011
Education Week
Complete URL: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/04/08/28prisons.h30.html?r=474648907
There is a trend in which money spent on prisons is increasing while money spent on education is decreasing. “This multidecade trend of prioritizing incarceration over education is not sustainable,” NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous said. Conservatives and liberals are ignoring party lines to join in battle against this unsustainable trend. Both sides agree that there has to be a solution - a way to reverse this trend.
Some interesting / disturbing Facts:
* America’s population is 5 percent of the world, but 25 percent of the world’s prison population.
* America spends $88,000 a year to send one person to prison and about $9,000 a year to send one person to school.
* 2.3 million people imprisoned in the United States are minorities, people with mental health issues or a drug addiction, those with low levels of education, and people with a history of unemployment or underemployment.
* Prisons saw the second-largest increase in the share of state and local government spending between 1980 and 2006 after healthcare, while spending for higher education declined.
* Higher education spending grew by 21 percent in that time, while spending on corrections grew by 127 percent.
Yikes! I recently sat through a presentation on the budget by the Newberg, superintendent. Oregon, is right in the mix. "K-12 has only seen a 13.1-percent increase. Human services saw a 62.7-percent increase and public safety had a 46.8-percent increase."
The intended audience for this article is all US citizens concerned for the future of education, and our country in general. This article is relevant because if this trend is not reversed we will continue to see cuts in education.
Hmmm, this is so interesting because it's hard for me to envision a compromise on this issue. If I could be guaranteed that lowering prison spending would significantly benefit the financial education crisis than I may be more on board. It is very suspect that such an obvious pattern of priorities exists, and I assume they likely do play into each other. However, I think of all the crime going on around me and I know that I certainly feel much more comfortabke with theser people off the streets.
ReplyDeleteDrug offenses for example are considered a "lower priority" crime and extremely rarely do people wind up in jail/prison for drug convictions. However, when that drug user starts robbing people with force or the threat of forcee to fund their habit, or they steal my car, or they neglect our children, etc., I find myself gratefull for a system that puts these people away. I'm just not sure which corners can be cut to even out the balance...
I agree Tristan with a small but. I think as Americans we are WAY to reactive. If we were more proactive and spent more time, effort, maybe even money in this process of being proactive - maybe we could spend less being reactive - locking people away.
ReplyDeleteI agree that there are many people that I don't want walking the streets, but could we have done more to steer them away from the path they choose? Maybe not - maybe I am too pie in the sky about this topic. I just don't see prisons working. I think they educate - they produce better criminals.
I am still trying to work through this topic, I tend to sway with the wind and contradict myself on this one. When I am wearing my mom hat I am much more in favor of putting "bad" people away -anything to protect my kids. When I am wearing the educator hat I am more concerned with what we can do to be proactive. Still a long way from any real firm stance.