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Alondra Davalos
Professor Bieber
English 115 HON
19 November 2015
Creating Criminals
What is a good way to see a decline in crime rate? By making sure teens graduate high
school. We are witnessing a crisis in California where primarily African American males from
low income families are dropping out of high school and winding up incarcerated. This is
creating crime and an America where demand for low-skill workers is plunging.
The graduation rates of African American students in California continues to be the
lowest among any other ethnic group. Where are these dropouts now? Statistically shown, they
are behind bars. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics over seventy percent of the
incarcerated population are high school dropouts. In the article Study Finds High Rate of
Imprisonment among Dropouts Sam Dillion states that one in every 10 young males high
school dropouts is in jail or juvenile detention, and that nearly one in four young black male
dropouts are incarcerated on an average day. Dropouts are winding up incarcerated because they
have no occupations and are spending their time on the streets committing crimes. For many
occupations a college diploma has replaced a high school one, consequently it is difficult for
these high school dropouts to obtain jobs.
Why are African Americans dropping out of high school when public education is free of
cost? There are many underlying causes of the dropout mentality. The main cause of high school
dropout rate being high is due to ones socioeconomic background. Matthew Lynch, Dean of the
School of Education, states in High School Dropout Rate: Causes and Costs that students

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from low income families are 2.4 times more likely to dropout than middle-class kids, and over
10 times more likely than high income peers to drop out. Although public education is free of
costs to all many cannot take advantage of it due to their socioeconomic background. Many
students drop out of high school to help support their household. Lynch also mentions in his
article that being relocated during ones high school years can be a motive to dropout. He
explains that kids that are relocated feel no connects with their peers or teachers creating a
feeling of alienation. They usually fall behind in the classroom, lose motivation and just end up
dropping out.
As a result of juveniles spending their time on the streets, may that be with gangs or
dealing drugs majority of them are being thrown in juvenile detentions. California spends more
money on locking them up than funding their education. In the article Throwing Children in
Prison Turns Out to be a really Bad Idea Brad Plumer states that juvenile detentions appears to
be creating criminals. A new paper by economists Anna Aizer and Joseph J. Doyle, Jr. shows that
throwing a kid in detention often reduces the chance that he or she will graduate high school. It
also raises the chance that the youth will commit more crimes later on in life. Not only is their
education being affected but many kids who end up behind bars end up making friends with
other offenders and building "criminal capital." Meaning that once out of these juvenile
detentions they will have friends to be on the streets with. Not only does this mean that they are
with bad company but they are more likely to continue committing crimes.
Alternative punishments are called for as a solution to this problem. Detention itself is
actually making things worse for kids. Economists Aizer and Doyles found that the kids who
ended up incarcerated were 13 percentage points less likely to graduate high school and 22
percentage points more likely to end up back in prison as adults than the kids who went to court

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but were placed under, say, home monitoring instead. Alternative punishments can often do just
as much to deter crime, but they don't do nearly as much long-term damage to the kids involved.
Having such high numbers of dropouts does not only effect the dropout individually but
society as a whole. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that dropouts bring in just $20,241
annually, this means they will usually need public assistance. According to Lynchs article it is
estimated that half of all Americans on public assistance are dropouts. Taxpayers are effected by
every dropout because it is them who pay for there needs. A study out of Northeastern University
found that high school dropouts cost taxpayers $292,000 over the course of their lives.
Incarceration of these dropouts is included in the cost as well. Taxpayers first pay for their
education and after for their incarceration.

Works Cited
Dillon, Sam. Study Finds High Rate of Imprisonment among Dropouts The New York Times
n. pag. 8 October 2009. Web. 26 October 2015.
Plumer, Brad. Throwing children in prison turns out to be a really bad idea The Washington
Post n. pag. 15 June 2013. Web. 26 October 2015.