Why Are So Many Young Men Giving Up on College?
&gt; The few neighborhoods where Black and white boys grew up to have similar adult outcomes were low-poverty areas that also had high levels of “father presence.”<p>Call me surprised. That&#x27;s the result of racist drug policies <i>intended</i> to go specifically after Black men (and hippies): <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;edition.cnn.com&#x2F;2016&#x2F;03&#x2F;23&#x2F;politics&#x2F;john-ehrlichman-richard-nixon-drug-war-blacks-hippie&#x2F;index.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;edition.cnn.com&#x2F;2016&#x2F;03&#x2F;23&#x2F;politics&#x2F;john-ehrlichman-...</a><p>The biggest problem - and one that the author conveniently and completely ignores - is that the US justice and incarceration system is set up for biblical an-eye-for-an-eye revenge with ludicrous sentencing (&quot;three strikes&quot;, <i>decades</i> for nonviolent drug offenses, people getting summarily executed by police <i>regularly</i>, ...) and not, like in Europe, for real, <i>measurable</i> rehabilitation.<p>Also, people in the US receive no education during their prison stay that helps them to gain useful employment after their release, they start with significant debts from the prison system and often enough from loan sharks, there is no meaningful assistance system to help them gain housing and jobs after being released, and forget about physical and mental healthcare - often, people will leave prison in a way worse state than when they entered: malnourishment, denial of healthcare, trauma from assaults both by fellow inmates and officers...<p>And finally: When employers and even landlords are allowed to do routine comprehensive background checks and everything about a person&#x27;s history is up for a google grab &quot;thanks&quot; to public record laws, it is no surprise that arrests for low level shit like petty theft or smoking weed sets up people for <i>a life</i> in poverty.<p>I&#x27;ve said it before and I&#x27;ll keep saying it: if the US wants to fix their society, the process has to <i>start</i> with their attitude towards criminals, criminality and healthcare.