i.s.i.l. fighters are hit by u.s. air strikes in syria for the first time welcome to our special coverage. u.s. air strikes in syria on i.s.i.l. targets. four arab countries are participating in the air strikes. also - air strikes are backed up by tomahawk cruise missiles and we'll hear from a former general on what they can do.

bashar al-assad rij eem says it was not formed that i.s.i.l. targets would be hit. we have a report on kurdish fighters repelling attacks, and the refugee situation. for the first time the united states has carried out air strikes in syria. they targeted fighters begonging to the islamic state of iraq and levant, saudi arabia, u.a.e., jordan and bahrain were involved. qatar is said to be providing support. pentagon forces say u.s. fighter jets started to hit targets on monday. most of the areas targeted are targeted near the iraqi border. fighters, checkpoints and weapon depots are under fire.

it has been in i.s.i.l. hands, it was the capital until mosul fell in june. washington informed the u.n. envoy of the attack against the i.s.i.l. targets in rafah. this statement was released: john kirby went on to say:. >> let's go to our correspondent imran khan, joining us live from the iraqi capital baghdad now. imran, how will the u.s. air strikes in syria be received by the iraqi government? >> well, the official line is that they will be welcomed. the iraqies said in order to defeat i.s.i.l. in iraq you need

to go after the safe haven in syria, and that is what exactly has happened. we haven't had an official reaction. it's unlikely we'll have an official reaction. iraqi military analysts and those in the security and defense forces will be watching to see what happens next. here in iraq - there's a difference between iraq and syria when it comes to the air strikes. in iraq, when the air strikes happen, we have had examples of these in amerli and the sinjar mountains, where the air strikes happen and ground forces from the kurdish and iraqi forces went in and cleared areas of i.s.i.l. fighters. they are unavailable in iraq. the syrian rebels are not in a position to go into those territories, they are not strong enough. this would be a different tactical approach. the air strikes would have been attacking places like rafah, a

key strong hold of i.s.i.l. in syria, the headquarters, it seems, has been attacked according to a lot of reports. they won't have been able to go - the ground troops won't be able to clear the area. we had this example in iraq, what i.s.i.l. have done is disappeared into the countryside. they have gone into villages and disappeared into the civilian population. >> imran, that's the correspondent in the iraqi capital. imran khan. the air strikes come after the beheading of two american journalists by i.s.i.l., lisa stark in washington d.c. has more on the escalation against i.s.i.l. >> we understand that we are not going to hear from the president tonight. he will not come out and make a statement about the air strike, which has begun. the pentagon confirmed they hit

a number of targets. the statement from the pentagon said "with our partner nations", we are trying to get clarification what nations they were. there was some talk of gulf allies participating in this strike on syria in washington. we should say that this comes a day before the president is heading to new york to speak to the u.n. to rally international support, to fight against i.s.i.l., and it's surprising to many that you would do it before going up to the u.n. s.e.n.t.c.o.m., central command, did authorise the strikes on the authority of the president of the united states, there has been no authorisation from congress, there has been no authorize as from the united nations, but the white house insisted that it believes it has the authority to launch the strikes. now, as you said, there were a number of different types of weapons used, including tomahawk

cruise missiles, fighter jets, unmanned drones as well used in this effort. they had gone after logistical targets in syria, as well as food targets, weapon deppos, so a host of targets. one report is this could be an hour's worth of bombardment. this comes as the issue streaks in iraq continue. the u.s. launching four air strikes in iraq today. 190 total since beginning the campaign. we are waiting to hear more from the pentagon. this launch, this escalation if you will against i.s.i.l. has started in syria, earlier than many expected it to. >> there's clearly support in the u.s. congress to take on i.s.i.l. at some level. there was a vote last week in the congress to authorise the

president to train the more moderate forces, train them to take on i.s.i.l. that was a split vote. it's not unanimous support. s.e.n.t.c.o.m. was visited by the president. he got a briefing there last week and went to the nation, 13 days aago, went in front of the nation and said "we are going to extend the war into syria, we are at war against i.s.i.l.", that's what the president said today. they said the international community is at war against i.s.i.l., and it would be extended into syria. secretary kerry has been working nonstop to put a coalition together to make this not a u.s. effort but an international effort. he says there are 40 nations willing to help because the administration has been vague

about what those nations will be doing. we have seen france, of course, which has taken its first air strikes in syria against i.s.i.l. i am sure it was a welcome move by the white house as they tried to build the international coalition. france indicated that it would not help with the air strikes in syria, it is not going to do that, it just will help in iraq. >> it will be interesting to see, which allies comes aboard. ambassador to the u.n. samantha powers saying this weekend she's convinced that allies will be joining the u.s. in the campaign against syria. and the u.s. wants that. they do not want to be seen as the only one against i.s.i.l. in syria. so a recap of what has transpired - u.s. official confirmed attacking 20 yi.s.i.l

targets inside syria. saudi arabia, unit arab 'em earates and jordan are participating in air strikes, and qatar said to provide a supportive role. >> we are joined by rula amin. one of the arab countries taking part in the air tribes, what do we know about the jordanian role? >> we haven't had confirmation. jordan voted for the coalition to trike in i.s.i.l., and policies and its expansion in the region. king abdullah was on tv and was clear on how he sees its as a

threat to the region as a whole. >> we now also that jordan has been providing intelligence to u.s. officials. not just on i.s.i.l., but other groups and extremist groups. and maid a critical role in pursuing al-qaeda figures, like one killed by the u.s., according to intelligence provided by jordan. >> we are getting the latest line is that tens of islamic state fighters have been killed in the air strikes in rafah. tens of islamic state fighters, according to the syrian observatory for human rights. and you said earlier that i.s.i.l. was evacuated.

that was seen as their headquarters, in anticipation of attacks. >> yes. it seems these people killed from i.s.i.l. were killed despite effort to lay low. they redeployed troops here. we hard from residents that i.s.i.l. evacuated the main headquarters, and families have been sent out to different areas in syria, using other houses, under ground houses to hide. what the syrian observatory is saying is most of the air streaks were focused on the province around it. 20 positions, including buildings said to be headquarters, checkpoints, weapons, and obvious, which is a major crossing point between turkey and syria, and i.s.i.l. used it to transport weapons and

recrui recruits. we are not sure, but it could have been a position struck. another position had a major military airport that was lost to i.s.i.l. a month ago. the air strikes, despite the redeployment hit their positions and killed a number of fighters. we know that the syrian government came out with an official line saying that the united nations in new york was informed, actually, by the u.s. about these air strikes that were going to happen overnight in different areas in syria, and that is because we had earlier heard from the syrian government that any strike against positions in syria, without coordination from damascus would be considered an aggression. now, we have not heard a u.n.

confirmation. they informed the syrian envoy. it teems there's a coordination going on. whether it was close to the syrian regime, they have been hinting that behind closed doors there has been coordination through third parties,like iraq. also, we have to remember at the united nations iranian and saudi arabia foreign ministers met, and that was an important step for people following development. iranians are supporting the syrian president and thousands have been adamant that strikes against i.s.i.l. will have to accompany. >> thank you rula amin joining us from the jordanian capital. more than 130,000 kurdish

syrians escaped into turkey. now some want to return to defend their homes, and the lives of those left behind. >> stefanie dekker reports from the turkish-syrian border. >> reporter: frustration is met by force. turkish forces try to control the few hundred kurds that can't to return to syria to defend their home town. >> translation: we, the syrian kurds and the turkish kurds, want to go to cabban to fight i.s.i.l. the police are not allowing us to cross. we want to protect our fighters and our homs. >> reporter: it's been attention as the men brought their wives and children to fully from the islamic state of iraq and levant. they say they do in the want to stay in turkey. syrian-kurdish fighters managed

to keep the fighters at bay. no one is sure how long it will last. >> the push has not only caused 100,000 refugees to flee, but scenes ignited tensions between turkey and the kurds. >> turk your has the largest population, and fears that they may demand on independent state. there has been a peace deal between the kurdistan workers party and the p.k.k. some say they feel under attack. >> translation: the turkish government says there's peace with the kurds. we haven't noticed real substance. they are trying to empty the land of the kurds from both sides of the border. >> reporter: the last few days tell a different story. over 130,000 kurds have come to escape i.s.i.l.'s advances. it's the biggest influx of people since the conflict began.

there's over a million. >> translation: we feel we have lost everything. we have been tortured, i.s.i.l. took our women and cut off our heads. >> reporter: many fear the killings, often including beheadings. while the people say they are determined they can beat them, returning home can be a long while yet. former u.s. secretary of defense mark kimmitt joins us from washington d.c. thank you again, general. we know about the air strikes earlier than anyone expected, a sustained attack. tell us about the military hardware that we know is being used. what weapons are these? >> well, for the most part i

think we'll use joint missiles, and the reintroduction of the tomahawk cruise missile into the battlefield. we have not seen that for some time and it looks like the operation featured a number of cruise missiles scoring against the thick sights probably fired... >> what about weapons used? >> it's a large weapon, 1,000 pounds in rate with a high explosive content to it, and good against fixed and stationary targets. and has an added advantage of not requiring an airplane to guide it in, or a drone to guide it in. general comet, the civil war in syria has been going on for more than three years, and the

syrian opposition was asking for the u.s. to intervene. the air strikes are not against the syrian government, but they are u.s. air strikes in syria. what do you think it is about the fight against i.s.i.l. that changed the ties. >> well, it's a combination of ept, the large offensive into iraq that started on june 10th, putting baghdad at risk. the success of the offensive down the euphrates up to the gates of baghdad made it clear that a significant ally of the united states, iraq, was in peril. second, sadly, it came very much to head with the beheading of the american journalists. that level of shock and outrage provoked by the killings, spurred the president to make the decision. >> do you think the campaign can

be successful, the aim of degrading i.s.i.l., was it air strikes alone, and without u.s. and allies on the ground? >> well, the first part of it can be successful, which is inside of iraq, the combination of air strikes from the coalition, and the ground efforts by the iraqi troops to regain lost territory is an objective that is obtainable in the next few months. it's problematic when we talk about efforts inside of syria. the u.s. aim is, at this point, to arm and equip the moderate syrian rebel groups so they can destroy the syrian government. we had a lot of trouble over the years arming - vetting the moderate syrians, and capabilities are questionable.

in the near term we are gaining territory in iraq. if i.s.i.l. will be degraded in syria, does the u.s. know who the moderate rebels are, or will the demise strengthen bashar al-assad's position. is there a moderate force on the ground that can take i.s.i.l.'s place. >> that is the million dollar question, some of the reluctance by chairman dempsey. it's not as black and white and clear cut as made out to be. moderate opponents come with a certain amount of baggage. and there's a question if the

rebels take over inside of syria and displace the bashar al-assad regime, have we created a libya situation? >> there's a long way to go, a lot of questions to be aped, and tonight as said by an earlier contributor, it's the beginning of the beginning. >> how do you think the aspect of u.s. air strikes in syria work alongside a syrian government launching attacks against the syrian opposition groups, but as far as we know there's no level of coordination between the two. but we heard that the syrian u.n. convoy was told that the u.s. air strikes would be taking place before they did. how has this gone and going to

work? the major concern of the united states is in the prosecution of the air campaign, that syrian jet fighters or air defense systems would be shooting at the coalition airplanes and may widely escalate the conflict to behind what the initial goals are. they are now focused on i.s.i.l. in the short term that benefits frankly the bashar al-assad regime. in the long term there needs to be reckoning with bashar al-assad separate from what we are seeing now. >> thank you for your time and your analysis, joining us from washington d c. we'll move on to other news in china. a chinese court gaoled an uyghur

scholar for life for separatism. adrian brown is joining us on the phone. what can you tell us about the case? >> well, as you rightly point out ilham toutai is a moderate voice in uyghur politics, and has been on trial accused of separatism. a short time ago it was announced that the court sentenced him to life. human rights groups say he never advo kated separatism, a sort of person that may have played a mediating role between the government and those in xinjiang who are waging war against the beijing rule. the trial was closed to journalists and foreign diplomats, and the court confiscated all of his property. he uttered a sentence after the

verdict saying "i don't agree." china's government in recent days said there's evidence of a link between islamic militants and e and foreign extremist groups like i.s., and blames the militant groups from the ethnic uyghur community for a series of attacks that have claimed more than 300 lives. >> there has been problems for years now between the chinese government and the uyghurs. how has china been dealing with this. is the sentencing part of the crackdown on this community? >> you mentioned crack down, that is what has been going on, including the attack at the

railway station where more than 30 people were knifed by a group of uyghur men and women. it was the first time there'd been a terrorist attack on that scale outside of xinjiang. hundreds of people have been rounded up, mostly uyghurs, and, as i say, the violence has claimed more than 300 lives. there has been other people convicted, detained and sentenced to death. others received life sentences, like ilham toutai today. what has happened here during the last few months focussed china's mind on the fact that they are part of a growing problem. >> adrian brown, joining us from xinjiang province in china. we'll go back to the top story. for the first type the united states carried out air strikes in syria, they targeted fighters

belonging to the islamic state of iraq and levant. saudi arabia, united arab emirate, bahrain and jordan were involved. u.s. fighters jets started to hit targets late monday. the pentagon released this statement: our correspondent imran khan is joining us from the iraqi capital bag dad -- baghdad. >> what do we know about the

fighting? we know tens were wounded, 10 killed in raqqa. >> that's right, from the syrian observatory of human rights - they announced the figures. we need to confirm what they are. it's likely we won't be able to find out what the figures are in syria because of the difficulty of reporting from there. one thing that we can say for certain is they'll have degraded significantly, raqqa, as an area to i.s.i.l. can go back to. let's look at the warfare element of this. in iraq, we see that the air strikes have taken place, and the ground troops go in and clear areas. we don't have that force in syria, it's unlikely that the rebels will be able to go in and take areas like that. what we hear in iraq is that there are high level meetings within iran's security apparatus, and the political

apparatus, looking very seriously at what is going on in syria. it's likely that the americans would have given them warnings. they were prepared for this, and they are waiting for a response. i.s.i.l. released a 42 minute statement about 12 hours ago, before the attacks, saying that anything that was part of the coalition would be fair game, they will be looking for revenge attacks. now baghdad and the rest of iraq will be looking to see how they can prevent the revenge attack here. >> thank you for that. >> that was imran joining us from baghdad. i.s.i.l. is fighting the kurd. the syrian kurds called for help from the air and from the u.s.-led coalition as a matter of urgency. sue turton has this report from the syrian iraq border.

the battle, the latest video from islamic state of iraq and levant, or at least that's what i.s.i.l. says it is. we can't be sure where or when it was filmed. the syrian kurds have been outmanned, out gunned and calling on the u.s.-led coalition to start its air strike on syria as soon as possible. >> very important for us, from all over the world, especially u.k. and u sa and france and all european union to help us with the air strikes. >> reporter: the kurdish fighters from the ypg are battling i.s.i.l. from two fronts, with the second towards the iraqi border where they are pushing to clear a direct route from rafah to syria on the

border. on the other side kurds are fighting to retake the border takes aware that i.s.i.l. will have a run through if the sides fall. >> there's normally no love lies dfr the syrian kurd and the iraqi kurds. but a common foe forced them to join together to help. they are hard pressed to fight on their own land to send in weapons. >> on a visit to the town an irane prime minister wanted to send peshmerga fighters, but had no one to spare. kiddish fighters on both sides of the border are at the heart of conflict, bringing it together in a joint struggle. the p.k.k., the kurdistan workers party announced a peace

process with turkey is over, after the turks closed the border. mexican culture... >> fighting for their future... >> it is imperative that i get into college... it's my last chance to get out of here... >> the incredible journey continues... on the edge of eighteen only on al jazeera america it's my last chance to get out of here... >> the incredible journey continues... on the edge of eighteen only on al jazeera america

>> we're here at the darrington unit, which is a maximum security prison on the outskirts of texas. >> jimarquez holland is 20 years old. he's been imprisoned here for three years. >> to me, i feel like what i was doing was petty. petty crimes - i never thought in a million years that i would be 17 and in prison. never thought. whenever the judges said, we send you to prison, i couldn't

even believe it. >> his criminal record began when he was in just sixth grade. police officers in his school gave him tickets for misbehavior, including smoking cigarettes. >> just hanging out with the wrong people. just not thinking with my head when you're young. >> he's here because of a burglary charge. when he was sentenced, the judge factored in his juvenile record, which included his misbehavior in school. >> instead of dealing with troubled students in traditional ways like counseling and detention, more schools are enforcing zero tolerance policies - and depending on law enforcement to carry them out. >> it's known as the school to prison pipeline. >> we've taken the same failed policies that have led to mass incarceration, and we're using them in schools throughout the country.

>> in this episode of fault lines, we travel to texas - one of the top states in funneling students from schools to jails. >> for many students, the journey to prison can begin at the start of the school day. in texas, if you're late to school three times, that's considered an unexcused absence. under state law, a student with ten unexcused absences faces fines up to 500 dollars, and a warrant to show up to truancy court. if the student can't pay the fine by the time they turn 17, they can face time in prison.

jennifer torres is in her last year of high school. she owes more than 7,000 dollars in fines for truancy. she said was late to school, in part, because she worked nights as a janitor to help support her family. >> the other night i didn't leave work till like 1. >> so you get home and you're in bed by what, 2? >> i still have to shower, yeah. >> 2? yeah. and then what time are you supposed to be at school in the morning? >> well, i wake up at 5 just to get ready and stuff. >> 5? >> yeah, so it's really not that much sleep. >> can you walk me through how many classes that you've missed, or how many absences that you have? >> a little over a hundred. but it was in the last 4 years. >> over a hundred over four years? >> yeah, they actually came to school, they pulled me out of class and they got me and they told me to come with them and i was like, i was surprised. because i didn't know about this. they told me they had 2 warrants

out for me and i was like, for what? and they said truancy. and they kind of took me to jail for a while. >> i mean if you're trying to get somebody to go to school, why take them out of school. why put them in jail to miss more school, you know? i think it's pointless. >> jennifer's family can't afford to pay the fine, so she is doing community service to discharge the debt. if she doesn't, she may have to spend the summer in jail. >> we try to work hard for pay bills, house, pay taxes, and extra 7,000 dollars is crazy. statistics show that zero tolerance polices target the most disadvantaged youth. black students are more than three times as likely to be suspended or expelled as their

white peers. hispanics and those with disabilities also face harsher punishments. students routinely get police-issued misdemeanors for things that used to mean a trip to the principal's office >> we're seeing an over-reaction to childish behavior. we're seeing racial profiling in our schools, in our hallways, of young people of color who are seen to be threats, so all of these kinds of over reactions push us to have these policies and practices in schools, that lead to pushing young people out, pushing them into the juvenile justice system, and into the criminal justice system. >> many of the criminal citations are handed out for minor infractions, like dress code violations. these cases happen all over the country, and often the most

absurd ones make the news. >> small children cited for throwing paper airplanes flipping the teacher off criminal citations for cussing in class 14-year old girl charged with disorderly conduct for repeatedly text messaging during class. small paring knife in lunch box gets north carolina student suspended for the rest of her senior year. one teenage student arrested for pouring milk on his girlfriend more than a thousand tickets were issued to primary school children over the past six years in texas several districts ticketed a six year old at least once. >> critics say resorting so quickly to the criminal justice system alienates students from the school system, makes them more likely to drop out and end up in prison. >> we're in north houston right now. we're just going to meet a young man. theo is the guy's name and he's

had all sorts of run-ins with the justice system starting in school. >> theo holmes is 19 years old. he served 3 years in a juvenile facility, mostly because of tickets he received from cops at his school. >> i think my first ticket was minor possession of tobacco, i believe. after that ticket i was like man, what you all going to do to me, ticket was $300 i ain't going to do community service. 14, 15, years old, you know what i'm saying? what you going to do to me? yall going to take me downtown or take me home? >> he says his mother kicked him out of the house at the age of 12. and his father was not in his life. the punishments at school didn't help theo get back on track. he ended up in juvenile detention. now, when he's ready to get his life together, his juvenile record stands in his way.

>> so can you tell me how having the probation and the record is affecting you know? >> it's affecting me a whole bunch because it's like i can't get no job. you know what i want to do, i want to be in international business, but at the same time i can't get nobody to even hear me talk or hear my story. they don't want to hear me out. now they looking at me like damn you a hoodlum. i can't hire you. >> so when you go back and you think about where it all started, is it fair to say that it did start with the infractions in school that you got ticketed for? >> man, it been started. it been started. in texas, if you a minority in the state of texas ain't nothing for you. or you come from poverty you got no one that, black, white brown, pink blue, ain't nothing for you. you know what i mean. it wouldn't nothing to help us prepare for the real world. it helped us prepare for jail

>> start with one issue education... gun control... the gap between rich and poor... job creation... climate change... tax policy... the economy... iran... healthcare... ad guests on all sides of the debate. >> this is a right we should all have... >> it's just the way it is... >> there's something seriously wrong... >> there's been acrimony... >> the conservative ideal... >> it's an urgent need... and a host willing to ask the tough questions >> how do you explain it to yourself? and you'll get... the inside story ray suarez hosts inside story weekdays at 5 eastern only on al jazeera america >> with every horrific school shooting in the u.s., there are calls for more police officers in schools. but more police means students

are more likely to be written up for misbehavior...and eventually end up in prison. the federal government provides tens of millions of dollars a year to fund these officers in schools across the country. >> every time we have a school shooting ,we actually realize that there was a young person in need and they weren't in need of a police officer. they were in need of an adult who could have talked to them, who could have counseled them, who could have deferred them to resources that they may have needed that weren't available in the school. >> across texas, police officers like javier alvarez, spend their days patrolling school campuses. in 2013, they wrote over 100,000 misdemeanor tickets. >> how do you make the distinction between a group of kids sitting around a vehicle harmlessly hanging out and something where you're actually going to roll up and talk to

them a bit? >> these kids right here they saw us, they saw me turn away and i saw them when we turned into this alleyway. it was obvious they were not trying to hide something or start walking away. it's the ones that when they see you they turn around and start fiddling with their fingers. those are the ones you want to talk to >> what do you think of the school to prison pipeline? is that reflected in your experience? >> what's being said that kids that get in trouble with police in school are more likely to go to prison later, well how can that be? if you're destined for a life of crime, then that's in your system. that's in your blood. a lot of this stuff comes from the families. >> chief of police victor araiza is in charge of security at over 100 facilities in the el paso school district. he says teachers and administrators rely too much on

police to solve their problems. >> children that can be problematic on a campus, the objective sometimes from faculty and staff is to have them removed, have them disciplined, have them sent to alternative schools. and the mechanism, the tool to accomplish that, is a police report, or some type of a document that says this student is so unruly that he can no longer be kept at this campus and he needs to be cited, he needs to be charged with a criminal offense and officer, you need to do that and help me. >> we tried to talk to dozens of teachers in texas, but only one agreed to speak with us: anna sifford - who has taught high school social studies for seven years. >> i see that teachers have neglected to figure out a way to handle a lot of problems on their own that they used to. things that were up to the teacher before are now a phone call away. >> how many of your peers are just picking up the phone and calling the school resource officer? >> i'd say the majority of teachers are doing that.

definitely 75% out of all of us, if i just want to make a rough guess doing that, because they go in with a set lesson plan and when the kid doesn't want to do it , what do i do i get him out of my classroom. >> one thing we sort of heard as a criticism is that well, they are cops, you put one in a school they are going to start policing and all of a sudden they will start ticketing things, enforcing laws in a way that wouldn't normally happen and so you have a higher likelihood that the young people in school will be criminalized. is that something that you've seen borne out? >> there are sros that i've heard from colleagues of mine that write them every five minutes. you know, if there's a problem, write a ticket, problem, write a ticket. and that's where the kid ends up in court, and the tickets are being written to families that are not going to be able to afford them to pay them. that's why the kid ends serving the time. >> getting troubled students out

of the classroom often means sending them to what's euphemistically called an "alternative school." at lincoln middle school, it's just a group of classrooms that are segregated from the rest of the school. >> alternative is here from morning until the afternoon when they leave. >> so they don't change classrooms? >> they don't change classrooms. they have one teacher. every middle school has an alternative... >> so out of a thousand students here, there's never more than say... >> right now we have about 12... >> what's with the most wanted and the mug shots? >> funny you may have to mention that. two of those kids used to be here in alternative. it's to let these kids know that hey, you know. this kid was always getting into trouble. >> critics say alternative schools can actually backfire because they're grouping together troubled students, labeling them as "bad" and isolating them from their peers. students can also fall back academically because the lessons

aren't as rigorous. >> this is just a mild form of incarceration and we let those kids know that. >> school districts have to make choices. they have limited resources and unfortunately we see too many school districts rushing to get a police officer with a gun and a badge instead of a counsellor.

>> as civil rights and education activists sounded alarm bells about the school to

prison pipeline, the federal government eventually took notice. >> in january, the obama administration released new guidelines intended to curtail overly zealous discipline policies in schools across the country. >> the report found that minority students were far more likely to face disciplinary action or arrest. it also cited schools for widespread use of out-of-school suspensions, 95 percent of them for nonviolent offenses like disrespect and tardiness. >> a routine school discipline infraction should land a student in the principal's office, i think, at worst, not in a police precinct. the guidelines followed a study of almost 1 million texas which found that students who'd been suspended were more likely to fail academically, drop out of school and face arrest.

this facility in houston texas is called a rehabilitation center. but in reality, it's a prison for boys under the age of 17. this sixteen year old got caught with marijuana starting when he was 13 years old; he also got in trouble for truancy. under state law, we couldn't film his face. he's 2 months into a 3 month term. >> do you feel as though you've changed? >> yes, sir. >> how about now when you get out. what are you going to look to do?

>> he's unlikely to get into the armed forces with a juvenile record. so for many kids with behavior problems, it's another way that early criminal records set them up for lost opportunities. >> we were just outside at the basketball court. and then we came inside because all the guards came running. apparently there's some sort of fight inside this juvenile facility. still not sure what's going on but you get the sense that things do happen, young people do act out. >> young people who are sentenced to juvenile facilities are 37 times more likely to be arrested again as adults. often, the additional charges and longer sentences begin here, for infractions like fighting with other inmates. i'm wab. >> cr is in for possession of

marijuana. his father is has been detained for immigration violations, and his family is struggling with losing that support. >> what happened to your eye? >> okay.. >> yeah. >> how long does a fight like that happen for before it's broken up? >> and then the guards are right there? >> yeah >> so that fight you got into this week, is that going to make it harder for you to go home? >> how do you feel about that? like, is that a big deal to you? >> studies show that grouping delinquent youth together actually has a negative impact

on their behavior. facing pressure, texas tried to cut down on the number of students being ticketed in schools for disruptive behavior. last year, the legislature passed a law that barred police officers from giving misdemeanor citations to students for disrupting class or acting up on the bus. this truancy court in the capital of austin is also trying to shift away from the criminalization of juvenile behavior. >> the approach here is more about making sure that there's a positive result. let's go check it out. >> we talk about school to prison pipeline. we don't want students to become accustomed to going to court, to having a case, to having a

warrant out there for your arrest, even though it's a class c misdemeanor. it desensitizes those folk. i purposefully don't want to feed into that. >> alright next case we have here is jordan hearn. >> rather than fine her or recommend a stiffer penalty, judge williams has decided to send this student's truancy case back to her middle school: where she will be tried by a jury of her peers. >> so the name is jordan. cause is tru... i don't know how to spell truancy. i'm going to put "not at school." >> it's a kind of intervention that hopes to help young people avoid a more serious involvement with the criminal justice system.

offenders who go through a youth court are half as likely to commit another infraction as those who go to a formal court for the same crime. despite these efforts to cut down on the number of youths with criminal records, for many people, it's too late. >> we've come here to the darrington unit on the outskirts of houston. this is where the school to prison pipeline terminates, at maximum security facilities like this one. >> we're getting buzzed up to go to the classrooms right now.

>> we were invited to observe a class which focuses on life skills, like anger management. >> with a show of hands, how many have actually been suspended from public education - from school? elementary, middle school, high school that you got suspended from school. >> every time i messed up i'd either get kicked out or put in some kind of disciplinary that didn't make me want to go back... instead of just sitting down and working with me. >> when i was in alternative school, it was just a bunch of gang members you know just gang-banging or doing drugs. it really led me for the penitentiary. >> what was it about the environment there that you feel prepared you for the pen? >> it was the same as the penitentiary. >> how so? >> gang banging, people doing their time the way they want to. we weren't learning anything or whatever. same thing.

>> donald matthews is 35 years old. he was arrested for arson in 2008, but he said his problems began when he was still in school. >> i had an attitude - i'm add, i can't sit down too long. not paying attention in school, go to school when i want to. different things of that nature, just being rebellious. >> this is what my everyday life is, man. got my bunk. that's where i sleep at. >> like many of the men here, he says never received a real education or one-on-one attention until he came to prison. >> what was the environment like when you went to the alternative school? >> to me it was just prepping individuals just for- it was