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Narrowing the School-to-Prison Pipeline: Two Innovative Approaches
The last twenty years have seen a remarkable increase in the criminalization of American schools and students.
What officially began in 1994 with the signing of the federal Gun Free School Zone’s Act (GFSA), has escalated from a series of reforms intended to increase the safety of students into a series of harsh and exclusionary policies. Not only have these reforms been largely ineffective at making schools safer (Skiba, 2008), but they have unintentionally resulted in harm to schools’ most vulnerable students by treating non-serious behavior as criminal, opening pathways into the juvenile and criminal justice systems. School buildings
have begun to mirror prisons by employing uniformed police officers, security personnel, and school resource officers (SROs); utilizing metal detectors, and other criminal justice-inspired technology, which are symbolically punitive and criminalizing (Hirshfield, 2008); securing buildings through school hours; and requiring students to undergo daily pat downs and bag-checks before being admitted to class (Advancement Project, 2010; New York Civil Liberties Union, 2007).
What officially began in 1994 with the signing of the federal Gun Free School Zone’s Act (GFSA), has escalated from a series of reforms intended to increase the safety of students into a series of harsh and exclusionary policies. Not only have these reforms been largely ineffective at making schools safer (Skiba, 2008), but they have unintentionally resulted in harm to schools’ most vulnerable students by treating non-serious behavior as criminal, opening pathways into the juvenile and criminal justice systems. School buildings
have begun to mirror prisons by employing uniformed police officers, security personnel, and school resource officers (SROs); utilizing metal detectors, and other criminal justice-inspired technology, which are symbolically punitive and criminalizing (Hirshfield, 2008); securing buildings through school hours; and requiring students to undergo daily pat downs and bag-checks before being admitted to class (Advancement Project, 2010; New York Civil Liberties Union, 2007).
Listing Details
Link to Original Source
Resource Type
Resource Topic
balanced and restorative justice (BARJ), collaboration, data, disproportionality, diversion, evaluation, expulsion, law enforcement, learning disability, mental health, out-of-school suspension, pathways to juvenile justice, pipeline, police, school arrest, school discipline, school resource officers, suspension, trauma, zero tolerance, juvenile justice
Organization
New York State Juvenile Justice Advisory Group
Author
Jamie Fader, Victoria Schall, and Benjamin Stokes
State
New York
Published Date
00 2012
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