Our Why | Iamman

Children whose parents are involved in the criminal justice system suffer from: psychological strain, antisocial behavior, suspension or expulsion from school, economic hardship, and are six times more likely to be involved in criminal activity.
32% of the US population is represented by African Americans and Hispanics, compared to 56% of the US incarcerated population being represented by African Americans and Hispanics.
One out of every three Black boys born today can expect to be sentenced to prison, compared 1 out 6 Latino boys; one out of 17 white boys.
Inmates are five times more likely to be infected by HIV than the general population.
Approximately 10% to 20% of inmates suffer from a serious mental illness, which is often made worse during incarceration.
66% of juveniles sentenced to death are people of color, two-thirds of the crimes committed involved white victims.
650,000 Americans return to their communities from prison each year. About half of them will return to prison within a few years.
1 in 3 African American males will be incarcerated in state or federal prison at some point during their lives, and the rate is significantly higher for black men who do not finish high school. For Hispanic males, the rate is one in six; for white males, one in 17

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 18.3 million children, 1 in 4, live without a biological, step, or adoptive father in the home. Consequently, there is a father factor in nearly all social ills facing America today.
85% of youth who are currently in prison grew up in a fatherless home.
57% of the fatherless homes in the United States involved African-American/Black households. Hispanic households have a 31% fatherless rate, while Caucasian/White households have a 20% fatherless rate.
75% of rapists are motivated by displaced anger that is associated with feelings of abandonment that involves their father.
Children who live in a fatherless home are 279% more likely to deal drugs or carry firearms for offensive purposes compared to children who live with their fathers.
92% of the parents who are currently in prison in the United States are fathers.
Living in a fatherless home is a contributing factor to substance abuse, with children from such homes accounting for 75% of adolescent patients being treated in substance abuse centers.

Minority Achievement Gap

5% of boys grades 5-8 and 5% of boys in grades 9-12 said they had been sexually abused
More male victims assaulted by multiple (2 or more) assailants than females, suggesting ‘gang rape’
Up to 1 out of 6 men report having had unwanted direct sexual contact with an older person by the age of 16. Non-direct contact/sexual behavior – 1 in 4 men report boyhood sexual victimization
On average, boys first experience sexual abuse at age 10. The age range at which boys are first abused, however, is from infancy to late adolescence.
Boys are most commonly abused by males (50- 75%). Abuse by females is more covert and may be considered “sexual initiation” although he may deny the abuse, he may suffer significant trauma from the experience.
Common symptoms for sexually abused men include guilt, anxiety, depression, interpersonal isolation, shame, low self-esteem, self-destructive behavior, PTSD reactions, poor body imagery, sleep disturbance, nightmares, anorexia or bulimia, relational and/or sexual dysfunction, and compulsive behaviors like alcoholism, drug addiction, gambling, overeating, overspending, and sexual obsession or compulsion.
Men report more psychological and physical problems than women

By age three, children of professionals have vocabularies that are nearly 50 percent greater than those of working-class children, and twice as large as those of children whose families are on welfare.
By the end of fourth grade, African American, Latino, and poor students of all races are two years behind their wealthier, predominantly white peers in reading and math. By eighth grade, they have slipped three years behind, and by twelfth grade, four years behind.
Only one in 50 Hispanic and black 17-year-olds can read and gain information from specialized text (such as the science section of a newspaper) compared to about one in 12 white students
By the end of high school, black and Hispanic students' reading and mathematics skills are roughly the same as those of white students in the eighth grade
African American students are three times more likely than white students to be placed in special education programs and are half as likely to be in gifted programs in elementary and secondary schools.
Among 18- to 24-year olds, about 90 percent of whites have either completed high school or earned a GED. Among blacks, the rate is 81 percent; among Hispanics, 63 percent. However, a much larger share of blacks earn GEDs than whites, and only about 50 percent of black students earn regular diplomas, compared with about 75 percent of whites.
Black students are only about half as likely (and Hispanics about one-third as likely) as white students to earn a bachelor's degree by age 29.