BLACK MALES: RESCUE PLAN

It has become a cliche that the lack of a high school diploma is sure
to lead to great difficulties in life.

Hurdles have been overcome, of course, but you don't want to rely on
heroic efforts as a rule.

When it comes to overcoming the hurdles of poverty and racial
disparities, education is a requirement.

Proof can be found in a study reported in Daedalus, the Journal of
the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Bruce Western of Harvard University and Becky Pettit of the
University of Washington document the disturbing rates of
imprisonment among the most impoverished young African-American males.

Since 1970, for too many of them, "serving time in prison has become
a normal life event," the researchers wrote.

The Outsiders

Clearly, prison has become a typical rite of adulthood for young
black males in comparison to the more traditional adult roles of
entering the military or college.

It's likely that this poorly educated group is already separated from
the middle class, but that is only intensified by imprisonment.

This has an impact not just on the individuals, but on their
families. Over half of these convicts have children.

More than two-thirds of black male dropouts will serve time in jail.
The researchers call this a new class of social outsiders.

Unfortunately, a prison record no longer carries a stigma; incentives
to get a job and a family have been -weakened.

The cost in human terms is incalculable. But the cost of imprisoning
people is well known - about $70 billion annually.

The researchers suggest tapping into other less costly alternatives
to prison, such as reducing the dropout rate, increasing job skills,
even early childhood education.

Drug court has a proven record of success by using both carrot and
stick to get results.

"If some portion of that $70 billion in prison costs were spent on
reducing unemployment in poor neighborhoods, the benefits to the
society could be huge," the researchers wrote.

It's both cheaper and more humanitarian than continuing the prison
building boom.

[Sidebar]

PRISON AS THE NORM

State prisoners average a 10th-grade education; about 70 percent have
a high school diploma.

Most of the growth in imprisonment is among young black males with
the lowest levels of education.

In 2008, 37 percent of young black males who dropped out of high
school had been in prison or jail.

In 1980, it was just 10 percent.

Among African-American children, 11 percent had a parent in prison in 2008.

Source: Research paper by Bruce Western of Harvard University and
Becky Pettit in Daedalus, the Journal of the American Academy of Arts
and Sciences.