Raleigh News & Observer

Pipeline to Prison 

Your Dec. 13 article "State ranks No. 4
in school suspensions" highlighted a growing concern in North Carolina:
the school-to-prison pipeline that siphons our students from the
classroom to a courtroom at an alarming rate. Short-term and long-term
suspensions can often lead to expulsions or dropouts. Suspended teens,
who are out of school and often unsupervised, are at increased risk for
criminal activity.

The
school-to-prison pipeline is not just an N.C. problem, it's a national
epidemic, but North Carolina's outdated state law that automatically
prosecutes 16- and 17-year-olds as adults is bursting this state's
pipeline at the seams. The article pointed out that 10 percent of North
Carolina's public school students are ejected from school for various
reasons annually - that is nearly 150,000 children out of school and
unsupervised each year. That's 150,000 of our children who are more
likely to encounter the juvenile or adult criminal justice systems.

Zero
tolerance policies and charging adolescents as adults are not smart
public policies. Instead of letting 10 percent of our children slip out
of the mainstream and into unproductive lives, let us focus on
successful programs proven to keep them in school and out of trouble.