Rationale
I teach at a neighborhood high school located in North Philadelphia. The School District of Philadelphia lists the demographics of the school as 59% Hispanic, 30% African American, 8% White, 2% Asian and 1% Other. 100% of the student body qualifies for free breakfast and lunch. My students are affected by crime on a daily basis. This unit will be taught to diverse classes of 10th grade students. Our school operates on a block schedule, with 90-minute class periods meeting on an alternating A/B schedule. My students often decry how unsafe it is for them in their neighborhood and many have been a victim of crime themselves. Furthermore, most of my students know a friend, family member or have personally been in prison or a juvenile detention facility at some in their lives. It is important for my students to understand the history of how we became a world leader in incarceration, how our perception of crime and prison became so punitive and what the legacy of mass incarceration in the United States is.
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