Impact of Literacy & Library Services on Crime Rates & Public Safety via EveryLibrary Inst

EveryLibrary Institute

The Impact of Literacy and Library Services on Crime Rates and Public Safety

EveryLibrary Institute: June 2019

It is a common refrain that a lack of access to education is one of the major contributing factors to 

incarceration in the United States.

What is not as commonly discussed is the direct impact that reading and literacy skills specifically have on levels of incarceration and crime rates. Adults with low literacy skills are far more likely to be under- or unemployed and therefore more likely to turn to criminal activities for financial survival. Children of parents with limited literacy skills are more likely not to graduate high school and end up in the criminal justice system.

Public and school libraries have long served as community anchors and centers of literacy education. In this paper we demonstrate the impact that literacy levels have on educational achievement and crime rates. We also demonstrate how public and school libraries can positively impact reading and literacy levels and help reduce crime in their communities. Finally, we will propose policy and funding propositions that could lead to lower rates of crime and incarceration.

Literacy Rates and Incarceration

Low literacy skills are one of the greatest common factors for individuals in custody in the United States. Across the country, 85% of juveniles and 60% of adults within the criminal justice system are functionally illiterate (Literacy Statistics). Within the adult population, 70% of individuals cannot read at a 4^th grade level, and only one-third have completed high school (Atlms, 2016; Smalley, 2016). In juvenile populations, more than half have reading skills that are below grade level (Center, 2015). When compared to peers who have completed a fouryear degree, high school dropouts are 63% more likely to be incarcerated (Sum, 2009). Moreover, those individuals who are still illiterate after serving their sentence have a high probability of re-offending and re-entering the criminal justice system (Foundation, 2015).

The road to low literacy skills and an increased potential for incarceration begins at an early age. According to the Department of Justice, “[t]he link between academic failure and delinquency, violence, and crime is welded to reading failure,” (Atlms, 2016). A longitudinal study of four thousand children has shown that those who cannot read on level by third grade are four times more likely to dropout of high school. Those unable to master even basic reading skills by third grade are six times more likely to drop out (Hernandez, 2011).  READ MORE >>

Literacy Reports & Statistics

Prison

2019: The Impact of Literacy and Library Services on Crime Rates and Public Safety, EveryLibrary Institute

2016: Highlights-US PIAAC Survey of Incarcerated Adults: Their Skills, Work Experience, Education, and Training, NCES Number: 2016040

2013: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Correctional Education, Rand

2013: Saving Futures, Saving Dollars: The Impact of Education on Crime Reduction and Earnings; Alliance for Excellent Education

2011: Correctional Education, OVAE

2010: Prison Count, PEW

2009: One in 31: The Long Reach of American Corrections, PEW

2006: Locked Up Locked Out: Educational Perspective on US Prison Population, ETS

2003: Literacy Behind Bars, NAAL 2003

2003: Education And Correctional Populations, BJS

1994: Literacy Behind Prison Walls, NCES