Cutting College Aid, and Fostering Crime

One of the most irrational initiatives in the war on crime was a
decision by Congress in the 1990's to cut off some ex-offenders from
federal education aid. It's highly unlikely that anyone has been
deterred from lawbreaking as a result. But if people who have paid
their debts to society and are seeking new starts are denied
education aid, they could well be locked out of the new economy and
sent right back through the revolving door into prison.

Congress is revisiting a particularly onerous law under which tens of
thousands of students have been turned down for federal grants and
loans because of drug offenses, some of them minor and as much as a
decade old. A proposed change in the law would improve the picture
slightly. It is aimed at penalizing students who commit drug-related
crimes while receiving federal aid. It would be better to repeal the
provision entirely, as many observers have suggested.

Law enforcement officials have learned over and over again that
ex-offenders who get an education and find jobs are far less likely
to end up back behind bars. Barring former offenders from school aid
makes it virtually impossible for them to get the necessary schooling
for joining the mainstream. The law has a disproportionate impact on
poor and minority communities, where the drug trade is rampant and
young men often have run-ins with the law before they get their lives on track.

By narrowing access to affordable education, the federal government
further diminishes the prospects of young people who are already at
risk of becoming lifetime burdens to society. Members of Congress are
understandably hesitant to cast votes that might brand them as being
"soft on crime." But it doesn't take a genius to see that barring
young offenders from college leads to more crime - not less. Student
aid was never intended for use as a law enforcement weapon. Any
attempt to employ it that way will inevitably yield perverse and unfair results.