Correlation Found between Children with Poor Reading Skills and Juvenile Incarceration

Date:  07-28-2016 Fifty-seven percent of kids who are locked up have basic, or below basic, reading skills

From Juvenile Justice Information Exchange Every young life starts out with promise, and the adults who love a child yearn for that child to have a bright future. But what if a simple barrier at an early age sets a child up for failure? Difficulty in reading is such a barrier. Poor reading skill is a predictor of, among other things, involvement in the juvenile justice system. “The literature shows a clear correlation between a grade-level reading problem and, later on, incarceration in the juvenile justice system,” said Ralph Smith, managing director of the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, a national collaboration of foundations, nonprofits, business leaders, and communities focusing on school success for children in low-income families. Read more