Rep. Cedric Richmond from New Orleans is making it his priority to encourage schools to take on alternative forms of school discipline. A new bill he proposed would create a position in the Justice Department to collect data to develop alternatives for using the criminal justice system for behavioral incidences in schools.

"His 'Youth Empowerment Strategy,' introduced this week, combines an expansion of summer jobs programs for teens, with a new federal effort aimed at re-prioritizing school discipline," according to Nola.com.

In addition, the bill calls for a federal grant program that would fund teacher training to handle delinquent student behavior within the classroom versus through the police.

Richmond hopes these efforts will solve the problem of treating students who are still developing as criminals, creating a cyclical process that causes the student's delinquent behavior control their destiny.

"'Using the criminal justice system to punish students for routine violations makes criminals out of students just for wearing the wrong clothes...We know that the earlier someone has contact with the criminal justice system, the less likely they are to finish school and the harder it is for them to achieve success later in life,'" Richmond said, according to the article.

The final component to the bill is also expanding summer job opportunities for students because teens with summer jobs are statistically proven to commit less crimes.

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Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

06/17/2015