PowerPoint Presentation

The School-to-PrisonPipeline

School-to-Prison Pipeline

A system of laws, policies, and practices that pushes students out of schools and into the juvenile and criminal systems

An over-reliance on school suspension to manage behavior

A willingness to view adolescent misbehavior as criminal activity

Where does the pipeline begin?In elementary school!

Short-term suspension in NC schools, by year

Long-term suspensions in NC schools, by year

North Carolina statistics

2012-13

750,000 school days lost to suspension from school

248,000 short-term suspensions (1-10 days)

1,423 long-term suspensions (more than 10 days)

37 permanent expulsions

Overall rate:

1 in 11 students suspended

In high school, 1 in 8

North Carolina does not report the reasons for suspensions in its Annual Report. Reports from around the country show that short-terms suspensions are often for vaguely-defined conduct such as defiance, disrespect, or disobedience. These are very discretionary with teachers and school administrators unlike something more concrete like fighting.

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Who is in the pipeline?

Students more likely than others to be in the school-to-prison pipeline:

Start behind on social and academic skills due to limited enrichment from birth age 5

Have continued poor academic achievement, often having been retained in at least one grade

Have been raised in a low-income, single-parent household

Have no or limited family history of post-secondary education

Racial disparities in school suspension

percentage of black students suspendedsuspendednot suspended1783

percentage of white students suspendedsuspendednot suspended595

Disability disparities in school suspensions

General population

Suspended students

Column1Students with disabilitiesStudents without disabilities0.120.88

Column2Students with disabilitiesStudents without disabilities0.260.74Column3Students with disabilitiesStudents without disabilities2.44.4000000000000004

How do students move through the pipeline?

As an affected student misses more school and feels the sting of rejection and unfairness, misbehavior gets worse, not better

Student may begin skipping school to avoid negative interactions and embarrassment of poor academic achievement

Student begins engaging in unlawful community behavior, such as vandalism, theft, etc.

Student may connect with gangs or other excluded students

Student gets arrested and ultimately incarcerated

Policing in schools

School resource officers (SROs) are law enforcement officers permanently assigned to work in schools

Nearly all high schools in the state have at least one SRO

Two-thirds of middle schools have at least one SRO

20 percent of elementary schools have an SRO

School Resource Officers

Steady increase in the number of SROs in schools

Can create an atmosphere of hostility and control rather than safety and support

More SROs result in more school-related behaviors becoming juvenile and criminal offenses

Having a juvenile or criminal record has many collateral consequences opportunities squelched due to a record

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School-based offenses/juvenile complaints

46% of all juvenile complaints are the result of school-based offenses (students under age 16).

Top three delinquent offenses:

Simple assault

Misdemeanor larceny

Disorderly conduct at school

No data are kept on how many 16 and 17-year-olds have criminal charges for school-based offenses, but anecdotally, we know it is a high number

No one is keeping data on how many adult criminal charges (for 16-year-olds and older) are school-based offenses. This is part of the system of mass incarceration we have in our country: our prison population has grown by 700 percent since 1970

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Disability disparities in arrests

At least one in three juveniles arrested has a disability

Students with disabilities are three times more likely to be arrested before leaving high school than the general population.*

*Source: The Hechinger Report, Oct. 26, 2014

Pipeline to Prison: Special Education Too Often Leads to Jail for Thousands of American Children

Students with emotional disabilities tend to be more impulsive, less able to problem-solve, and less able to manage emotions, resulting in aggressive or other disorderly behaviors

Evidence about school suspensions

For individuals students, school suspension is linked to:

Poor academic achievement, both short term & long term

Lasting disconnection between suspended student and school

Increased truancy and future misbehavior

Increased risk of later incarceration

Difficult to find evidence that suspension reduces misbehavior; higher rates of suspension do not correlate with safer, more orderly schools

Zero-tolerance policies the no-excuses, rigid discipline policies that became popular after Columbine have not been associated with improved school safety. Higher uses of zero-tolerance policies are more likely to be correlated with lower academic performance school-wide, higher rates of drop-out, higher rates of delayed graduation, more academic disengagement, and higher numbers of disciplinary exclusions overall.

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Reversing the Pipeline

Commitment to Change

Prevention

Intervention

Alternatives

Suspend fewer childrenLong-term suspension trend in NC is declining

From 2008- 2013, this represents a 63% decrease in the number of LT suspensions. Number of students went from 1.2 million to 1.5 million during this period, making the decrease even more dramatic.

Numbers are as follows:

1999-00 2,216

2000-01 2,712

2003-04 4,024

2005-06 3,949

2007-08 5,225

2008-09 3,592

2009-10 3,368

2010-11 2,621

2011-12 1,609

2012-13 1,423

WAKE COUNTY

12-13 337

11-12 403

10-11 577

09-10 837

08-09 1,015

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Long-Term1999-002000-012003-042005-062007-082008-092009-102010-112011-122012-132216271240243949522535923368262116091423Column11999-002000-012003-042005-062007-082008-092009-102010-112011-122012-13Column21999-002000-012003-042005-062007-082008-092009-102010-112011-122012-13

Change the law

2011 N.C. General Assembly revised the state law on school discipline

Left discipline primarily in the discretion of local school boards, but

Made zero tolerance approach unlawful

Requires the consider mitigating circumstances

Requires that long-term suspensions be restricted to serious violations of board policy

Encourages use of alternatives to suspension

Spelled out due process procedures

Change local policies

School boards can limit the authority of principals and the superintendent to impose suspensions in certain circumstances

Examples

No suspension from elementary school

No suspension on first offense

No suspension until certain interventions are tried

No suspension for longer than 30 days

No suspension for certain offenses (i.e., disrespect, disobedience)

No court referrals for most school offenses

Prevention strategies

Engage students in academics

Support & train staff in behavior management, cultural competency

Implement Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support

Reduce class size

Make social, emotional, and behavioral education a regular part of school

Engage parents

Interventions

Student support teams

Mentoring & counseling

Social work services

Substance abuse intervention

Personal Education Plans

Effective IEPs for students with disabilities

Alternatives

Mediation

Restorative justice

Restitution

Community service

Effective alternative schools

Effective in-school alternative learning centers

Support efforts to Raise the Age

North Carolina is the only state in the United States that always treats 16 and 17 year olds as adults in the criminal justice system

Deprives 16 & 17 year olds of the rehabilitative aspects of juvenile system

Deprives 16 & 17 year olds of the confidentiality of the juvenile system (giving them public criminal records)

Results in incarceration in adult jails

Learn more

Youth Justice North Carolina -- http://youthjusticenc.org/

Watch the documentary:

North Carolinas School to Prison Pipeline

NC Child -- Raise the Age

http://www.ncchild.org/what-children-need/juvenile-justice