The Role of School on the Road to Delinquency: Perspectives of Young Men of Color

• In Event: Oppression, Injustice and Inequality - Schools and Prisons

Abstract

School factors such as zero-tolerance policies and poor quality education are often pinpointed as principal factors leading students, especially young men of color and students with disabilities to the school-to-prison pipeline. While research has established several links between school policies and practices and delinquent behavior among boys of color, little is known about how young men perceive the role of school in their own pathway to delinquency. Using a life history narrative approach, the authors retrospectively examine the primary and secondary schooling experiences of young men color, ages 19-24, who shared histories of juvenile incarceration. The young men were residents of Los Angeles County and were African American, Hispanic, and Filipino. Findings suggest that the young men did not typically perceive school as a primary factor in influencing their engagement in delinquency. Rather, they attributed the origins of delinquent behaviors to what they deemed as “unavoidable choices,” often unrelated to school, and a normative process involving truancy, poor academic performance, gangs, and pre-delinquent activities such as fighting, graffiti, and substance abuse. Thus, despite a strong literature base relating school policies and practices as catalysts to delinquency, this group of young people largely blamed their own choices.

Authors

• Charles H. Lea, University of California, Los Angeles

• Laura S. Abrams, University of California, Los Angeles