The Value of High Education

We at Policy Inc. are advocating for the immediate implementation of a pilot program which will begin to mitigate some of the harm done to not just the wrongfully convicted individuals, but their family, and by extension the community they have been taken from. Which as we now know, clearly have led to a denial of their gifts and contributions to these communities, and caused cozening of their reputations to the public at large. 

Access to quality education is an imperative in any society where one desires to function at a reasonable level. However, access to higher education is becoming more and more significant in the competitive social climate we are facing today. We at Policy Inc. feel that this access is one of the most important elements to criminal justice reform. Higher education improves the quality of life of all citizens but for those who are formerly incarcerated and their families, the intrinsic value of being able to access a higher education is raised multifold as it is a pathway to a new start in society.

The establishment of the wrongful conviction recovery scholarships offers men and women who were wrongfully convicted or their children, the ability to apply for a scholarship to complete an undergrad degree at the City University of New York or an institution of the State University of New York including the statutory colleges at Cornell, the College of Environmental Science and Forestry at Syracuse and the College of Ceramics at Alfred within New York State.

Other restorative justice initiatives eliminate major barriers to higher education for formerly incarcerated families by expanding support programs through secondary education funding. The social return from investment in education allows a family to increase their social and economic mobility while reducing poverty rates. The National Center for Educational Statistics found that the rates of 16 to 24-years-old students from low income families are seven times more likely to drop out than those from families with higher incomes.

It is evident that education is a quality of life indicator that cannot be ignored. The Prison Policy Initiative’s study in 2018 also found that 25% of all formerly incarcerated persons have less than a high school education or its equivalent, in comparison to the 90% of the general population who completed highschool. Receiving a higher education also raises the probability of a person securing employment and a livable wage.

As a society we are judged by how we provide for our most vulnerable citizens. The formerly incarcerated already have multiple barriers to their societal mobility, i.e. Housing, Employment etc. The fact is, those who are wrongfully convicted are dealt even more damaging discordances in their journey of a successful transition back into society. We are a demographic that because of an epidemic of newly exposed injustices have increased by numbers that should not be reflected, nor accepted, in a self proclaimed civilized society. We belong to a club that no one volunteers for, nor celebrates induction into.

We at Policy Inc. are advocating for the immediate implementation of a pilot program which will begin to mitigate some of the harm done to not just the wrongfully convicted individuals, but their family, and by extension the community they have been taken from. Which as we now know, clearly have led to a denial of their gifts and contributions to these communities, and caused cozening of their reputations to the public at large.