Preventing Students' Incarceration and Supporting Students With Incarcerated Family Members

Background

The USA has the highest rate of incarcerated people and the highest impression rate in the world (World Prison Brief, 2020). 29% of Black residents, 24% of Hispanic residents, and 12% of White residents are incarcerated (U.S. Department of Justice, 2020). Black and Native American people experience a higher rate of incarceration compared to other racial groups according to the result of the report, Prisoner in 2019 (U.S. Department of Justice, 2020). Black youth has always composed the highest portion of juvenile arrest rate, followed by other racial minority groups, American Indian, White, and Asian (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention [OJJDP], 2019). Asian, Pacific Islander, and Native American populations were not presented in these reports on incarceration rate, reflecting the marginalized status and larger societal invisibility perpetuated within US society regarding these communities

A similar situation reflects in the juvenile justice system as well. 2,083 people between 10 to 17 years old were arrested in 2019 (OJJDP, 2019). Native American youths have a 1.5 times higher possibility; and Black youths have a 2.4 times higher possibility of being arrested compared to their White peers (OJJDP, 2019). Students of color are more likely to be incarcerated, which composed nearly 70% of the population of juveniles in correctional facilities consistently across fifteen years (OJJDP, 2019). On top of the criticism of racial inequity in the US justice system, there is also the concern of over usage of incarcerating people, not because of the increasing violence but because of policies that criminalized mental health issues, low SES, immigrants, and disability (Perez, Leifman, & Estrada, 2003; Abrego, et. al, 2017; Marwick, Fontaine, & Boyd, 2017; Nanda, 2019). These social locations are often associated with racial minority groups which put them into a more marginalized state in society and reflect in the phenomenon of the school-to-prison pipeline.

Take the arrest rate of Black students, for example, 31.6% of Black students were arrested in school from 2017 to 2018 (U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights, 2021). The School system is argued to contribute to the injustice of the US justice system. The school-to-prison pipeline refers to the effect of school disturbance laws, zero-tolerance policies, and practices, and school policing that leads to expelling students from schools and putting them into prison (Evans & Didlick-Davis, 2012; Meiners, 2011). School policies at any level are usually associated with disciplinary protocols that mostly are punitive and disproportionately impact students with minoritized identities, such as race/ethnicity, disability, low SES, and LGBTQIA+ (Skiba, Arrendondo, & Williams, 2017). These factors put schools into the position of regulating students through suspension, detention, and expulsion which makes students’ behavioral issues seem “criminal” (Welton & Harris, 2022). It is important for school counselors and mental health professionals in schools to be aware of the context while intervening in students’ “behavioral issues”.