It’s nice to see some relevant ideas about how to approach the crime rate/incarceration rate plaguing the U.S. I believe the problems that lead to incarceration often start very early in one's life, and they are often tied into the way society views one's academic performance abilities in the school setting, abilities that oftentimes get muddled into views of social performance. Having worked in the public school context with teenagers who are labelled “emotionally handicapped” and “learning disabled” (several of whom spent time in the local juvenile detention center), and having a child (now 19) who struggles with some of these issues, my experience has lent two additional observations:

Many in society still look at those who are labelled learning or emotionally disabled as deficient/defective. Until the dumb/bad associations with current labels and the labels themselves fade and are replaced not with the label “different,” but no label (hey, we’re all different, right?), then those who do struggle with dyslexia or other learning disabilities feel apart from and less than the rest of society in this way, and the subtle effect on one’s self-esteem is insidious, far-reaching, and often permanent.

Those who feel isolated from the rest of society because of their inability to “fit-in” in the school/academic context are more likely to express themselves in more impulsive ways, because they feel they have less to lose in terms of social approval and academic approval (hey, when you’re at the lower end of society’s measuring stick on these issues, and your efforts to catch up with others fail, then why try?) In other words, why think about the consequences when there seem to be a different set of consequences for you than for others.

Poverty, lack of resources, and tuned-out parents dealing with their own problems (oftentimes in a divorce setting) also exacerbate the situation.

-- BarbPitman - 30 Jan 2008