School Discipline: Classroom to Prison?

September 17, 2014

League of Women Voters Public ForumThe College of Charleston

High Profile Zero Tolerance Cases

What is meant by the “school to prison pipeline”?

“Its most basic meaning suggests that schools communicate with police about student misconduct in a way that leads students to develop arrest records and eventually serve time in prison. But the term is also used to refer to a more subtle and more common chain of events: students are repeatedly suspended, fail academically, and have their social, emotional, and educational needs unmet by the school; they withdraw from school or are expelled; and this school failure or withdrawal substantially increases the risk that they become ensnared in the criminal justice system” (Kupchik 2014: 96-97).

Issues of Concern Widespread externalization of

students Disparate Impact

• Race• Students with disabilities• LGBT youth (Himmelstein and Bruckner

2011) Caution:

• Pursuing the Silver Bullet• Privileging schools

Culture Shifts Internalization to Externalization War on Youth

• Warnings of “Super-Predators” (90s) Diminished Discretion in Justice Systems

• From Mandatory Minimums and Three Strikes to Zero-tolerance policies in Schools

Incarceration—the best idea we’ve had Widening the Net:

• “Disturbing School” in SC Politics of policy and ignorance of evidence-based research Expanded adoption of CJ “logics” (Kupchik 2014)

• “Militarization” of police and schools• “Broken Windows”

School Resource Officers (SROs) (Na and Gottfredson 2011)

National Prevalence of School Suspensions and Expulsions

Source: U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights. 2014

School Suspensions in Charleston County

Source: Charleston County School District 2014

School Expulsions in Charleston County

Source: Charleston County School District 2014

Juvenile Cases to the Solicitor, SC

Source: SCDJJ 2013.

Positive Developments January 8, 2014: “Dear Colleague”

Letter June 3, 2014: School Discipline

Consensus Report (Council of State Governments Justice Center)

Commitments to reform in CA and TX Charleston County School District

References Charleston County School District. 2014. Report of Student Suspensions,

Expulsions and Attendance, 2012-2013. Retrieved 9/4/2014 http://www.ccsdschools.com/Academic/AchievementAccountability/AssessmentEvaluation/ReportsStatistics/index.php

Patrick Griffin, Sean Addie, Benjamin Adams, and Kathy Firestine. 2011. Trying Juveniles as Adults: An Analysis of State Transfer Laws and Reporting. Washington DC: OJJDP.

Kathryn Himmelstein and Hannah Bruckner. 2011. “Criminal Justice and School Sanctions Against Nonheterosexual Youth.” Pediatrics 127 1: 49-57

Paul Hirschfield. 2012. “A Critical Assessment of Theory and Research on the ‘School to Prison Pipeline.’” Paper presented at the American Society of Criminology Annual Conference, Chicago, IL, Nov. 14-17, 2012.

Jacob Kang-Brown, Jennifer Trone, Jennifer Fratello and Tarika Daftary-Kapur. 2013. A Generation Later: What We’ve Learned about Zero Tolerance in Schools. New York: VERA Institute of Justice.

Aaron Kupchik. 2014. “The School-to-Prison Pipeline: Rhetoric and Reality.” Pp. 94-119 in Franklin E. Zimring and David S. Tanenhaus (eds.) Choosing the Future for American Juvenile Justice. New York: New York University Press.

References

Chongmin Na and Denise C. Gottfredson. 2013. “Police Officers in Schools: Effects on School Crime and the Processing of Offending Behaviors.” Justice Quarterly 30: 619-650.

Charles Puzzanchera. 2013. Juvenile Arrests 2011. Washington DC: OJJDP. Charles Puzzanchera and Sean Addie. 2014. Delinquency Cases Waived to

Criminal Court, 2010. Washington DC: OJJDP. SCDJJ. 2013. Annual Statistical Report. Columbia, SC: SC Department of

Juvenile Justice. U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights. 2014. Data Snapshot:

School Discipline. Washington DC: U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights.

U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Education. 2014. “Notice of Language Assistance Dear Colleague Letter on the Nondiscriminatory Administration of School Discipline.” Retrieved September 8, 2014 http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201401-title-vi.pdf