FROM THE JOURNALISM TEAM

In the U.S. criminal-justice system, poverty and race play huge roles in determining who winds up in prison.

Bill and Rose Morgan of Monroe Township are a retired couple who didn’t take risks with their money. They did everything by the book. They both worked stable jobs, retired at a reasonable age and lived modestly. 

But they’re struggling to get by. 

Experts say that having access to quality educational opportunities — from early childhood through adulthood — increases the chances that economically struggling individuals will achieve professional and financial success. 

Christine Barilka lives what she would call a simple life. She and her husband have a small apartment in South Brunswick, where they raise her daughter’s four children. They don’t have cable television, spend only what they absolutely must spend — on diapers, medication, transportation, rent and food — and still, at the end of the day, they’re forced to rely on help from the local food pantry.