Education Push Out as a Pathway to Prison

The educational system is a pathway to prison for Black and Latino youth, rather than being a pathway to college or a future. The above information graphs describe the policies that push young people out of schools, why that is a problem, and who is being targeted by these policies. In essence, punitive school policies are pushing young Black and Brown people out of schools and into the prison industrial complex.

Pathways to Push Out

1) Suspensions & Expulsions

2) School Based Arrests

3) High Stakes Testing

What the Problem with Push Out?

Young people who do not finish high school are more than 8 times more likely to go to prison than students who graduate.

1) Students Suspended, expelled, or arrested in school are more likely to drop out or graduate late

2) Suspended students miss class time and are more likely to do poorly in school

3) 1 high school graduate prisoner, 8 non-graduate prisoners

Who’s Getting Pushed Out?

1) Youth of Color

2) Youth in Foster Care

3) Students with Disabilities

4) LGBTQ Youth