Pre- and Post-Incarceration Impacts and Supports: The Need for Additional Services for African AmericanMen and Boys in Urban Areas

Science Center A155

Many African American people, especially men and boys from low-income neighborhoods, lack support and resources that should be nurturing to the people of these communities’ sense of self actualization from the communities that they value dearly such as family, friends, faculty, and churches. Therefore, African American men and boys in prisons and from low income communities have been forced to find other means of support given that mainstream society has neglected them. The purpose of my research is to understand the punishment and criminalization of African American youth and adults that lead to incarceration. They have had to build alternative structures from the limitations of community and resources for social support using the following criteria: age, gender, income, race, and education level. I seek to understand what the most beneficial model of education and disciplinary system is for African American children and what supporting these individuals actually looks like. I used statistical analysis on data drawn from surveys of low-income students in the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grades from Cleveland, Akron, and Canton, OH about their interaction with their peers and teachers. Eighty-seven percent of respondents were African Americans. There were questionnaires and surveys provided from teachers and students in order to study the factors that influence students’ adjustment and progress in school. Ultimately, African American men and boys from low-income neighborhoods have financial, emotional, and special educational needs that are unsatisfied in an institutional setting, which can hinder their school activities and social behaviors and can influence their outlook on their potential that leads to the school to prison pipeline.