Opinion/Crowley: The missing link between poverty and incarceration
Joseph H. Crowley
Joseph H. Crowley is former president and executive director of the Rhode Island Association of School Principals and the author, with Albert Colella, of "Poverty & Despair vs. Education & Opportunity" (Stillwater River Publications, 2016).
Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist and his band of impoverished bandits would, today, likely be in juvenile detention centers. Victor Hugo’s impoverished main character in "Les Misérables" is imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread. Why do the poor end up in prisons more often than the more well-to-do? Could there be a reason?
Cortisol is the adrenal gland response to stress. It is helpful in a body’s fight-or-flight response. For a child under constant stress, the overdose of cortisol impairs brain development in the same way as lead poisoning and PTSD. Children living in poverty are under constant stress with food and housing uncertainty, violence in the home and neighborhoods, and myriad other issues. The prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and amygdala are impacted in such a way that the child has issues with concentration, short-term memory and behavior/impulse control. The prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, responsible for the brain’s executive function, actually shrink.