All committed before age 21: shoplifting, purchase and use of controlled substances, driving under the influence, stealing money from family and work, under age driving, truancy, curfew violations, underage smoking, smuggling of fireworks into the country, running from police in the middle of the night.
I would have a completely different life if I was in the school-to-prison pipeline. Some of it was overlooked because I was a really good student. For most of it, I was never caught. If I was Black or grew up in a different neighborhood I’d have been surveilled, caught for at least some of it, labeled a hoodlum, harassed, arrested, written off.
Now I’m a middle class attorney who hasn’t done any of that in decades, and moreover has made so many positive contributions to my friends, family, and community.