Illinois laws for educating incarcerated students Research Paper

Illinois laws for educating incarcerated students - Research Paper Example (Illinois 1833). Incarcerated students get in trouble due to poverty, substance abuse issues, chaotic schools and dysfunctional families and the rate of recidivism has been going high each new day. Therefore the State of Illinois decided to educate them and help correct their ways. This is with an aim of equipping them with knowledge and skills that will help them find work and earn a living making them respectable members of the society. It sad that nearly 55% of the youth who are incarcerated end up back in the correctional facilities before 12 months are over. The Illinois laws for educating incarcerated students therefore were enacted help reduce this numbers and give this young people a life (Meiners, 2007). Research shows that there is an overrepresentation of incarcerated juveniles both in long and short term correctional facilities. This study results have done little to change the special program that is offered in many juvenile facilities in the State of Illinois. They are lacking in facilities and services that are mandated and required by the federal law. The State law lacks many provisions that are supposed to support these children before they are released back into the public. There many legal difficulties that faces correctional facilities for them to be able to offer special education for incarcerated juveniles with disabilities. The laws that exist do not protect the rights of incarcerated juveniles as they are supposed to (Law, & Whitehorn 2012). The Education for all Handicapped Children Act was reauthorized in 1997 and given a title Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and later changed recently in 2004 to Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA). Each change has seen the law change the type of special programs and services that are available for incarcerated students. They do not consider the