African-Americans must realize that the probability of serving time in prison and ending up in poverty is in many respects a foregone conclusion if you dropout of school and get saddled with a criminal record. Currently, the Pew Center finds that one in nine African-American men are incarcerated and one in three young, black, male high school dropouts are in prison or jail on any given day of the year.
This problem is not solely a male problem. According to the Pew Report of the States, one out of one-hundred African-American women in their mid to late thirties are incarcerated. Dropping out of school and a criminal record are the best predictors regarding future incarceration and a lifetime of limited opportunities. Richard Clay predicted that by 2020, based on his study of crime statistics, sixty-three percent of all African-American males between the ages of 18 and 34 would be incarcerated.
The Center for Labor Studies at Northeastern University found that “nearly twenty-three percent of all young Black men ages 16 to 24 who have dropped out of high school are in jail, prison, or a juvenile justice institution in America.” This report frames the need for a national strategy to address the relationship between dropping out and incarceration. As the report demonstrates, there are dire economic and social consequences connected to dropping out of high school. Here are several other statistics to come out of the study:
• Fifty-four percent of the nation’s dropouts ages 16 to 24 were jobless on an average month during 2008.
• Black dropouts experienced the highest jobless rate.
• Forty percent of all young dropouts in the country were jobless for the entire year.
• The average annual earnings of the nation’s young people with a bachelor’s or advanced degree in 2007 were three times higher than the average earnings for dropouts of $8,358.
• The limited earnings potential of dropouts mean many never leave their parents’ or relatives’ homes to form independent households.
• Nearly 37 of every 100 dropouts live in poor or near-poor families.
• Nearly thirty-eight percent of young female dropouts ages 16 to 24 were mothers.
• Young high school dropouts were nearly nine times as likely to have become single mothers as their counterparts with undergraduate college degrees.
The above realities underscore the impact of dropping out and its adverse effect on increased social mobility and economic status. Thus, the data suggests that disproportionate contact with the criminal justice system is more likely to be concentrated among low-skill minorities with low levels of educational attainment.
It is evident how dropping out affects life chances but how does a criminal record affect long-term prospects for success? Devah Pager of Princeton University in a 2003 study entitled “The Mark of a Criminal Record” found that race is a salient factor for an ex-felon in regards to employment prospects. She found that ex-offenders are only one-half to one-third as likely as nonoffenders to be considered by employers and that Blacks are less likely to receive considerations by employers, relative to their white counterparts, and black nonoffenders fall behind even whites with prior felony convictions.
Certain felony convictions exacerbate the ability of the formerly incarcerated to successfully reintegrate back into society. For instance, a drug conviction by far is the worst crime one can get sent to prison for in respect to the ability to successfully reintegrate back into society. A drug conviction can potential bar someone from public housing, financial aid, welfare programs and other rights.
It is extremely important for African Americans to weigh the consequences of their actions on their future ability to become productive citizens of the community. The consequences of your actions in your youth will affect your ability to have and take care of a family. At the most basic level it will affect your ability to subsist.
Byron E. Price is an Associate Professor of Political Science in the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University and the author of Merchandizing Prisoners: Who Really Pays for Prison Privatization?
