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Saving Futures, Saving Dollars: The Impact of Education on Crime Reduction and Earnings.

America's standard of living and international competitiveness will be strengthened if its high schools are improved. Research indicates that about 75 percent of America's state prison inmates, almost 59 percent of federal inmates, and 69 percent of jail inmates did not complete high school. Additionally, the number of prison inmates without a high school diploma has increased over time (Harlow, 2003). Reforming the nation's high schools could potentially increase the number of graduates and, as a result, significantly reduce the nation's crime-related costs and add billions of dollars to the economy through the additional wages they would earn. Increasing the graduation rate and college matriculation of male students by only 5 percent could lead to combined savings and revenue of almost $8 billion each year. To achieve those savings and that additional revenue, the nation's schools—especially its high schools—must change for the better. Only about 70 percent of students—approximately 65 percent of males and 73 percent of females—currently graduate from America's high schools on time (Editorial Projects in Education [EPE], 2006). Lower educational attainment levels increase the likelihood that individuals, particularly males, will be arrested and/or incarcerated. For instance, a study that looked at state prisoners' education levels in 1997 showed that " male inmates were about twice as likely as their counterparts in the general population to not have completed high school or its equivalent, " and four times as many males in the general population had attended some college or other postsecondary classes than those in prison (Harlow, 2003). Theories abound as to why people with more education commit less crime. To list a few: • People who have high school diplomas or better earn higher wages through legitimate work, thus reducing the individual's perceived need to commit a crime and/or raising the potential cost of crime to that person (i.e., getting caught and being incarcerated) to unacceptable levels. • The stigma of a criminal conviction may be greater for professional workers, who tend to have higher levels of education, than for those in lower-paying, lower-skilled jobs. The nation spends an average of $9,644 a year to educate a student. The average annual cost per inmate is $22,600. The United States spent almost $50 billion in incarceration costs in 2004.