Care2 News NetworkIn the years 2006-2007 Florida schools sent 23,000 students to the criminal justice system, with approximately 70 percent of those youth suffering from at least one mental health disorder, according to the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice. Black males were disproportionately represented in those referrals, comprising 33 percent of all referrals to the juvenile justice system, despite the fact that they make up only 23 percent of Florida students. In Palm Beach County alone, more than 80 percent of students with disabilities referred by Palm Beach County Schools to the juvenile justice system were black males.
.... Children with disabilities graduate from Palm Beach schools at a rate of just 33 percent, compared to 67 percent for all students. One of the plaintiff's in the Palm Beach County case illustrates just why this disparity exists. When the 7th-grader, who was eligible for services to treat his emotional and behavioral disorders, transferred from his elementary school to his middle school, the middle school changed his paperwork to show that he didn't need those services rather than make the effort to provide them.
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Technically, Care2 is kinda gnarly. Classic case of the IT folk trying to provide "services" most don't ask for... or need.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the content of this article... it would take a book or two. What jumped out at me: how much like the Soviet "system" where those who did not fit into the "system" were determined "mentally ill." It's a classic case of "ideology" gone over the top.
And, of course, the "criminal justice system" is just that... criminal. Can we just cut through the bullshit and just call it the "prison system?" Better yet... the "prison business?"
It has very little to do with "justice."
Sending people to jail is a lucrative business in the US, particuarly, for the contractors and the judge they buy to provide them with the business.
ReplyDeleteVive la liberte!
prison is the largest bullshit business in the US. As waldo says, it has very little to do with justice. The complaint in Fl that prisons are overcrowded is like Chicken Little shouting that the sky is falling.
ReplyDeleteIf we want to legallly release 70% of the occupants all we need is to de-criminalize narcotic drugs, of which marijuana is considered one. Not only would we save billions that is spent housing (rehabilitating?) prisoners, we would open up a new life for those people by expunging a criminal record which haunts for life and PREVENTS from becoming contributing citizens. Krist,, I could go on and on and on, as I usually do but this is already making me want to go do a shot of smack