The Justice Project

The other day I researched links between illiteracy and crime and was overwhelmed with the results. If you’ve ever wondered, “Does teaching kids to read really make a difference?” the answer is a resounding YES.

I’ll throw a couple of interesting stats at you…all borrowed from the websites I linked to at the end of the stats…I was surprised how many I found.

When the State of Arizona projects how many prison beds it will need, it factors in the number of kids who read well in fourth grade (Arizona Republic (9-15-2004)). Evidence shows that children who do not read by third grade often fail to catch up and are more likely to drop out of school, take drugs, or go to prison.  So many nonreaders wind up in jail that Arizona officials have found they can use the rate of illiteracy to help calculate future prison needs.

In California “if the child isn’t reading on 4th grade level when tested they will plan to budget building another jail cell. “Based on this year’s fourth-grade reading scores,” observes Paul Schwartz, a Coalition “Principal in Residence” at the U. S. Department of Education, said “California is already planning the number of new prison cells it will need in the next century.” from Democracy and Equity: CES’s Tenth Common Principle1998 by Kathleen Cushman

Dr. Lynell Burmark, MultiMedia Schools January/February 2001: “The reality is that, in California at least, if you don’t know how to read by the end of fourth grade, the state is building you a prison cell.”

60% of Urban School Children do not graduate from High School. Forty percent of those who do read at only a 4th grade level.(Edu-Cyberpg)

Low literacy is strongly related to crime.  70% of prisoners fall into the lowest two levels of reading proficiency (National Institute for Literacy, 1998).

Low literacy is strongly related to unemployment.  More than 20% of adults read as or below a fifth grade level – far below the level needed to earn a living wage.

Literacy statistics and juvenile court

• 85 percent of all juveniles who interface with the juvenile court system are functionally illerate.
• More than 60 percent of all prison inmates are functionally illerate.
• Penal institution records show that inmates have a 16% chance of returning to prison if they receive literacy help, as opposed to 70% who receive no help. This equates to taxpayer costs of $25,000 per year per inmate and nearly double that amount for juvenile offenders.
• Illiteracy and crime are closely related. The Department of Justice states, “The link between academic failure and delinquency, violence, and crime is welded to reading failure.” Over 70% of inmates in America’s prisons cannot read above a fourth grade level. (Begintoread.com)

So, the moral of this story is that mentoring and tutoring kids (especially in reading) can directly lead to a decrease in crime over time. \

Justice Project Youth Mentoring & Kids Tutoring Initiative.

Put hands & feet to your heart for justice...

To sign on to mentor a Reid Park youth, 

or to commit one hour a week to tutor a Reid Park kid, 

email [email protected].

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These Initiativse run from Mid-September to mid-December

Everybody gives something, the movement keeps going. 

That's how it works.

Remember your giving commitment to The Justice Project. Honor it.

 Give online HERE or at the 24-7 donation box at 24-7, or in JP drop box in the foyer of Renovatus on Sundays.

                                                                         From DUST:

The more we  get involved in the Justice Project, the more I truly understand that this is what we were created for. everything else is stripped away, our soul truly craves to love and be loved. Everything from cleaning the refrigerator to working on the back porch was an outward display of the same heartbeat. It was a resounding “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” His kingdom was there on Saturday, in a little corner of Reid Park, in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was a group of us coming together with willing hands and feet, with a mixture of personalities and abilities, to display the love of the One who first loved us. 

Saturday’s story: As Erica and I were cleaning the freezer I wiped away a cockroach that was in there and quickly maneuvered to the sink where Luke was. I shook the cloth and watched the bug go down the drain. “No one wants bugs in their freezer…” I commented to Luke. Then of course, Luke being Luke, came up with some witty remark about my comment and then said it was the “phrase of the day” or something like that (Luke correct me if I’m wrong)… Then I just started thinking about that. ‘No one wants bugs in their freezer.’ No one desires horrible things, injustices, if you will, in their lives. It would seem that no one, with the ability to ease the pain, or relieve these injustices, would walk away from the opportunity of doing so. Yet we do, and we do it a lot. It is like opening a freezer, seeing a cockroach in there, and shutting the door in the face of an obvious need. On Saturday, we took a step as a community in the right direction. It was just a step, but the Lord was in it and worked in us and through us. And one day at a time, our prayer will continue to be, “Your kingdom come…” 

"What can't you stand?" asks Bill Hybels, author of the book Holy Discontent. Hybels argues that the things that make us most angry about our broken, mixed-up world should be the very fuel for our lives. When we find ourselves raging at an injustice, it is our job to get to work to effect meaningful change...we can turn our angst into "an unstoppable force for good in the world."

Wrangling with your friends over politics? Freaked out by the economy? Concerned about health care? Whatever it is that moves you to update your Twitters and your Facebooks and write letters to the editor is likely an area where you are being called to serve.

How can you put hands and feet on resolving the issue for someone nearby?

Taking that flame of indignation and fanning it into a righteous blaze of justice will help you serve with renewed energy...you can become the unstoppable force.