Press Releases

News from EPI Media Advisory: How mass incarceration contributes to the racial achievement gap

On Wednesday, March 15th at 10:30 a.m. Eastern, the Economic Policy Institute will host a panel discussion on new research that outlines the connections between mass incarceration and racial achievement gaps. There is overwhelming evidence that having an incarcerated parent leads to an array of cognitive and noncognitive challenges known to affect children’s performance in school. As many as one-in-four African American students have a parent who is or has been incarcerated—the discriminatory incarceration of African American parents is an important cause of their children’s lowered performance. Simply put, our criminal justice system makes a significant contribution to the racial achievement gap in both cognitive and non-cognitive skills.

EPI research associates Leila Morsy and Richard Rothstein will discuss their new work with Glenn Loury of Brown University and Ames Grawert of the Brennan Center for Justice. The Washington Post’s Valerie Strauss will moderate the discussion.

What: Discussion of new EPI research on the impact of mass incarceration on children

Who: Leila Morsy, EPI Research Associate and Senior Lecturer at the University of New South Wales
Richard Rothstein, EPI Research Associate and a Senior Fellow of the Thurgood Marshall Institute of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
Glenn Loury, Merton P. Stoltz Professor of the Social Sciences at Brown University
Ames Grawert, Counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice
Valerie Strauss, Education Reporter for the Washington Post

Where: The Economic Policy Institute
1225 I Street NW, Sixth floor
Washington, DC 20005

When: Wednesday, March 15 at 10:30 a.m. ET

To RSVP and receive a copy of the research please email news@epi.org.

Public can RSVP here: http://on.epi.org/2l0JMZo 

This event will be livestreamed here: http://staging.epi.org/121546