City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects CUNY Graduate Center 5-2018 School to Prison Pipeline Unmasked: Review of how the School to Prison Pipeline Reinforces Disproportionality in Mass Incarceration Akeem A. Barnes The Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit you? Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.edu/gc_etds/2628 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: AcademicWorks@cuny.edu SCHOOL TO PRISON PIPELINE UNMASKED: REVIEW OF HOW THE SCHOOL TO PRISON PIPELINE REINFORCES DISPROPORTIONALITY IN MASS INCARCERATION by AKEEM BARNES A master’s thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Liberal Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, The City University of New York 2018 © 2018 AKEEM BARNES All Rights Reserved ii School to Prison Pipeline Unmasked: Review of how the School to Prison Pipeline Reinforces Disproportionality in Mass Incarceration by Akeem Barnes This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Liberal Studies in satisfaction of the thesis requirement for the degree of Master of Arts. Date Susan Semel Thesis Advisor Date Elizabeth Macaulay-Lewis Executive Officer THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii ABSTRACT School to Prison Pipeline Unmasked: Review of how the School to Prison Pipeline Reinforces Disproportionality in Mass Incarceration by AKEEM BARNES Advisor: Susan Semel Strict law and order policies, due to the War on Drugs, enacted in the 1970's have led to the mass incarceration that continues to plague communities of color.
Simultaneously, zero tolerance policies in the nation’s schools have helped to fuel the mass incarceration of people of color by ensuring that students of color are disproportionately disciplined via suspended or expelled, criminalized, and eventually funneled into prison. This paper analyzes how the School to Prison Pipeline reinforces the disproportionate incarceration of people of color by targeting students of color. It identifies the rise and implementation of zero tolerance policies in the nation’s schools. Moreover, it explains how the use of propaganda was used to justify the deliberate targeting and criminalization of people of color, while simultaneously garnering funds and encouraging popular support for discriminatory practices when targeting poor communities of color.
Additionally, it goes on to analyze how zero-tolerance policies have negatively impacted students of color. It explains an analysis of how zero tolerance policies, which was enacted to develop a more conducive learning environment, has instead, served as a conduit for students of color to be funneled into the criminal justice system; therefore, reinforcing the disproportionate incarceration of students of color. And lastly, it offers possible solutions such as restorative justice programs in schools or alternative vocational programs to help alleviate the discriminatory policies that funnel students of color onto a one-way path toward prison. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This paper is for the memory of my friends, Troy Mitchell Sr.
and Vashawn Fitzgerald, who passed away in 2015 and 2018, respectively. Many thanks to Dr. Susan Semel for her helpful insight on how to approach this paper. I am forever indebted to Profs.
Haroon Kharem and Trina Yearwood for pushing me to pursue my passion for writing about a topic that is personal to me. Thanks also to my childhood friends, for inadvertently inspiring me to address an issue that has plagued us during our childhood. Last but not least, I would certainly like to thank the many children that populate schools affected by the issues addressed in this paper for encouraging me on a daily basis to continue the fight for equity for all children. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract iv Introduction 1 Chapter 1: The Desire for a New Approach 7 Chapter 2: Mass Incarceration and the School to Prison Pipeline Defined 11 Chapter 3: Restorative Justice in Schools 38 References 51 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 13 U.
Incarceration Rates by Race in 2004. Figure 2 20 Nationwide suspension rates at U. Figure 3 27 Children Who Have Been Suspended from School by Race. Figure 4 31 Average High School Dropout Rates by Ethnicity from ’00-’01 Through ’09-’10.
Figure 5 33 What It’s Like to Be Black in the Criminal Justice System, 2012. Figure 6 46 Learning Uninterrupted: Supporting Positive Culture and Behavior in Schools. Figure 7 47 Learning Uninterrupted: Supporting Positive Culture and Behavior in Schools. vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION More money is put into prisons than into schools.
That, in itself, is the description of a nation bent on suicide. I mean, what is more precious to us than our own children? We are going to build a lot more prisons if we do not deal with the schools and their inequalities. — Jonathan Kozol All of us in the academy and in the culture as a whole are called to renew our minds if we are to transform educational institutions--and society--so that the way we live, teach, and work can reflect our joy in cultural diversity, our passion for justice, and our love of freedom. —bell hooks, Teaching to Trangress "You are lucky to be alive, but you might not be able to return to school for the first week, and it will be an extra couple of months before you can go back to work." These words from my attending physician devastated me.
They pained me because my senior year was fast approaching (four weeks away) and I was due to be a first-generation college student, which was important not only to my mother because she wanted my two younger brothers to follow my example, but also a personal goal I sought to achieve. Returning to work was a priority of mine because my mother raised us by herself on minimum wage, which convinced me to start saving to help fund my first year of college. Even though I pleaded with my physician to please clear me for the first day of school and to allow me to return to work as soon as possible, he reminded me that the unknown assailant who shot me at point-blank range caused me to lose my left kidney, spleen, and half of my pancreas. He emphasized that the extensive injuries to my body required much more than a three-week recovery period—including physical therapy and someone to talk to that could help me deal with the traumatic experience.
After leaving the intensive care unit (ICU) and being told by my doctors that I would not be released—or even worse—cleared to return to school or work until I was well enough, I took 1 rehabilitation seriously. Each morning, before my doctors circulated the hospital on their daily rounds, I exercised, with the assistance of a nurse, by walking around the hospital for approximately 30 minutes. When I returned to my room, I practiced multiple leg exercises from my bed, including leg spinners and peddlers to help with my bodily functions. I made sure to eat the hospital food with vigor when doctors and nurses observed even though it was difficult due to the pain caused by the surgery.
I refused to acknowledge to my doctor that exercising on a daily basis caused extreme pain to my incision site because he would attempt to convince me to stop, and I was not taking no for an answer, so I learned to cope with the pain. As a result of my ardent routine, I was released from the hospital earlier than doctors expected and cleared to attend school and work on the opening day of my senior year. This moment was joyous for several reasons including having the chance to be the first in my family to attend college, playing recreational sports, seeing my friends and family, but one thing remained on my mind as I departed from the hospital on that sunny afternoon in August—the police never found my shooter. I felt as if the criminal justice system had let me down.
I was a 17-year-old who felt as if the adults that were hired to protect and serve failed to honor their oath to "accord equal respect to all people." I refused to talk to anyone about my troubling thoughts concerning the outcome of my case. I shut down, became depressed, and felt helpless and voiceless all the while attempting to complete my senior year and save money for college. Eventually, the detective assigned to my case informed me that she had to drop it because she had no promising leads and I should instead focus on my future. I took her advice to heart and attempted to focus on my goals, but depression caused my grades to drop significantly, and my performance at work dwindled.
The worse my grades and performance at work deteriorated, the more I began to "act out." I lost interest in remaining on the honor roll. I participated in more senior pranks and were involved in much more fights. Instead of seeking professional help for my depression from the shooting incident, my troubling behavior at 2 school caused the administration to suspend me a few times during my senior year. The more times I got suspended throughout the school year, the more I sought to run the streets of East New York with my childhood friends, which inevitably led to more trouble.
During my senior year of high school, I was arrested multiple times for petty crimes, which increased my exposure to the criminal justice system. As my exposure increased, officers from local precincts in East New York began harassing, profiling, taunting and abusing my rights on several occasions. Ultimately, the failure of my school to address my issues momentarily led to me dropping out and almost becoming a statistic of the criminal justice system. To better cope with the overwhelming pressures of my life, I volunteered to tutor at a local church in my neighborhood when I had free time.
Tutoring children became one of my favorite pastimes because ever since the shooting incident, I've felt helpless, but working with children invigorated me with a purpose to help others avoid the feeling of helplessness and voicelessness that I felt while I was in the hospital. After graduating from high school and being accepted to Brooklyn College (CUNY), my tutoring role at the church became a mentorship role as well. As I formed close relationships with the children, I became an outlet for many of them. They felt comfortable enough to share issues about school and their home lives with me.
Having me to confide in made it possible for my mentees to overcome obstacles in their lives, which still serves as one of my greatest pleasures to this day. Tutoring offered me the chance to stay off the streets and instilled me with a purpose. I loved educating young people from East New York on the dangers of running the streets and not taking their education seriously. The experience inspired me to pursue teaching youth in inner-city communities.
Inspired by my mentorship role at the church, I decided to become an educator in East New York, an underprivileged community, after graduating from Brooklyn College. For the past three years, I've been a staunch advocate for the students at my school where 98 percent of them are 3 either Black or Hispanic. During my advocacy efforts, I championed for changes in the required curriculum because it did not relate to or reflect the interest of my students. I organized and facilitated meetings for the student government to help ensure that students have a voice on issues that concern them.
I piloted a book club in which students specifically chose books that spoke on issues in their community. After constant requests from my students to learn more about what enriches their neighborhood, I helped to kick-start a filming program that highlighted the vitality and importance of their community. For various writing competitions, I have been the point-person because my colleagues and students are well aware that I do not mind dedicating my time to helping others.