Chapter 12Education, Poverty, and Crime: State and Local Efforts- Conservatives view criminal behavior as evidence of a character fault- Liberals note that criminals are overwhelmingly uneducated and poor – argue it is from society’s failure to meet the needs of many, forcing them into a life of crime- Agreement on belief that some crimes must be punished as offenses against society (murder, rape, most violent crimes)o Liberal: likely to forgive those who have repaid society for criminal acts, perhapsgrant a second chanceo Conservative: see individual as faulty, unlikely to do so “Three strikes, you’re out”- Povertyo Conservatives see those living as poverty as having failed to make effort necessary to have a job/pay their own way See people on welfare as “lazy”o Liberal views poverty as a failure of societyo Both: Belief that some are poor through no fault of their own Society should show compassion towards children, severely handicapped, and the elderly- Public educationo Liberal: believes public education offers society the leverage needed to change individuals Grants opportunity for a good life Poor success in education = society’s failureo Conservative: accepts need for public educational opportunities as benefit to society If individual doesn’t take advantage of it, fault rests with individualState Efforts in Education, Poverty, and Crime- State/local government devote nearly half of their expenditures to providing education and protection from crimeo Has not ended poverty or stopped crime- Figure 12.1 (graph of SAT Verbal/Math)o Overall trend is sharp decline until 1980 for botho Verbal increased through mid 1980s and declined to lowest level in 1991 Since, modest increase in verbalo Math: increasingly consistent from 1980, declining since 2003 but still above verbal- No Child Left Behindo Lets states choose their own methods of measuring educational achievement and choose which children should be measuredo Good idea, doesn’t always seem that effective- Povertyo 2009: family of four with income below $22,050 was defined as living in povertyo Great reduction from 1960 to 1969, overall poverty dropped from 22% to 12% Improvement followed a series of policy changes proposed by Kennedy (the “New Frontier”) and Johnson (the “Great Society”)- Period of great expansion of American economyo 1% = 3 million (in terms of those living in poverty)o Poverty rates for African-Americans and Hispanics are higher than for Anglo and Asians Rates for blacks/Hispanics have become lower over timeo Figure 12.4 (graph of Poverty Rates by Age) Major change since 1965 Shift from older to the younger- Due to taxpayer discontent with welfare programs to support those in poverty resulted in poverty being shifted from those who have paid taxes for many years to those who have paid for fewer years or no years at all Poverty rate cut in half 1966 to 1973 Age 65 and Older used to be highest, now they’re lowest and Under 18 is highesto Poverty transferred to those with highest voter turnout to lowest and to those too young to voteo Aid for Families with Dependent Children was abolished in favor of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)o Periods of prosperity do not reduce poverty- Crimeo Long-term trend is upwardo Figure 12.5 Crime Rates Since 1960 Property crime much greater than violent crime rates Current decline in property, plateau of violent- Figure 12.6 Ao Education and Poverty o Strong negative (-.73)o TX close to regression line Low completion of high school, higher % poverty- Figure 12.6B o Education and Crimeo Negative (-.37)o Low completion of high school, higher crime- Figure 12.6Co Poverty and Crimeo Positive (.31)o Higher poverty rate = higher crime rateDifferences among the States on These Policies- Correlations alone do not provide sufficient evidence of casual relationshipso Although, there are empirical linkages between education, poverty, and crimeCoping with Education, Poverty, and CrimeEducation- Educational reforms (stress on math and science) when Soviet Union put its sputnik into orbit - US = one of least centralized education systems in the world- American states are central actors in higher public education- Every state has maximizing high school graduation rate as central education policy goal- Figure 12.7 – High School Completion and Bachelor’s Degreeo Positive (.45)o TX = lowest high school completion rate in nation Also has largest % of students who drop out before completion 29 states rank higher than TX- No Child Left Behind program put in place in TX earliero Emphasize standardized test scores as a measure of educational achievement Separate testing standards for higher/lower performing studentso Evaluate schools/districts based on test resultso Offer financial incentives to schools for improving test scoreso Financial penalties for those not improving scoreso Offer prospect that students at poorly performing schools may relocate to better performing schoolso Provide insufficient funding from a more central governmento Do not require funding threshold from more local governments- Local schools see TX/federal education reforms as unfunded mandateso Conservatives believe increased funding is not always necessary for success/doesn’t guarantee success- Figure 12.8Ao Contemporary (2006) Educational Expenditures and High School Completiono NO RELATIONSHIP (.24) between K-12 education spending and outcomes Meaning: higher expenditures per K-12 students does not mean higher graduation rates- Figure 12.8Bo Lagged (1980)o NO RELATIONSHIP (.36) – slightly stronger than 2006- Figure 12.9Ao Contemporary Cost of Higher Education and Higher Education Degreeso 2006o STRONG POSITIVE (.55) Where students pay more have more college graduates *Contemporary relationships are not the proper relationships to study- Spending more on education produces no resultsPoverty- Federal government has taken the lead in developing welfare programs aimed at reducing povertyo Best funding programs = partnership between federal and state governmentso Federal: establishes framework of eligibility and benefit rules, provides baseline level of fundingo State: adjusts eligibility and benefit rules and supplementing federal contributions with state resources- No federal OR state Department of Poverty- Largest welfare program by expenditures= Medicaid o Provides medical care for those who cannot
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