Educational handicaps and criminal behavior at Morgan County Regional Correctional Facility in Wartburg, Tennessee

One out of every 55 adult residents of the United States is under the jurisdiction of the criminal justice system - three million people incarcerated, on parole, or on probation (National Institute of Corrections, 1986). One major contributing factor has too often gone unremarked - poor education. Americans are beginning to recognize that poor education can spell trouble and correctional facilities around the country are taking a fresh look at inmate education. Increasingly, the corrections system is seeing literacy, basic skills, and vocational training as prerequisites for success on the outside. In 1986 state and federal prisons hit record highs with problems of overcrowding, illiteracy, and recidivism. Unless these problems are addressed they will continue to rise in the 1990's. Therefore, it would be more feasible to provide highly effective educational programs in correctional facilities as a means of combating these three major problems. Literacy and educational programs are becoming critical if men and women in prison are to be helped toward a productive life instead of a return trip to prison. The effects of educating a population such as the incarcerated can be far reaching. Society will benefit through the inmates resocialization and reintegration. Without education for successful reintegration, the released inmate cannot survive. A correctional education program should be devised for maximum impact on attitudes, values, thinking, and then possible behaviors. Education is an important aspect of an individual's life. The educational components that make up the individual's life provide the backbone of the individual's ability to maintain a satisfactory and/or adequate life style. Without an education that at least provides the individual with the basic skills needed to survive in society, the chances of providing even a minimum standard of living are decreased dramatically. Therefore, it is my belief that if individuals do not have the basic educational background to secure some type of gainful employment they will turn to a life of crime. Especially if these individuals have extreme educational limitations and/or are educationally handicapped or both. These individuals will adhere to the law of self-survival. They become adept at a life of crime in order to provide the basic creature comforts, such as food, clothing, and shelter, because of a need to survive. I believe that the research in this thesis will show that the educationally handicapped criminal's behavior tends to be exhibited by crimes against property. The purpose of this thesis was to compare the educational background and criminal behaviors of the population at Morgan County Regional Correctional Facility to determine if a link exists between educational background and crime. Specific data and descriptors (i.e. BETA-II and Wide Range Achievement Test-R [WRAT-R]) were used to describe the type of educational background and/or educational handicaps prevalent at Morgan County Regional Correctional Facility. The United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., "Survey of Inmates of State Correctional Facilities 1986", was used to provide the data on the type of crimes committed, history of incarceration, socioeconomic characteristics, drug and alcohol use, race, and family background (i.e. modification of the survey to eliminate questions dealing with the data listed was made).