The zero-tolerance policies that have been in place throughout a majority of the United States’ schools has created a phenomenon now referred to as the “school-to-prison pipeline.” These policies, rather than deterring misbehavior and improving schools, are pushing our youth to prison; more specifically, our African American students.
Introduction
Before continuing, I want to bring to everyone’s attention one the issue of mass incarceration in the United States. Our incarceration rates began increasing with our War on Drugs and “tough on crime” periods. Mass incarceration in our country has increased over 500% in the last 40 years, making us the country with the highest prison population at 2.2 million.
While there have been several policies that have contributed to these rates, one has specifically affected students. The school-to-prison pipeline phenomenon has emerged in great part of the zero-tolerance policies. Such policies make African American students three times more likely of being expelled than white students. These students are also three times more likely of coming into contact with the criminal justice system. Our schools are targeting your children, the future of our country, and sending them to prison unfair and disproportionately applied policies, contributing to our mass incarceration population.
Approaches and Results
The Zero-tolerance polices began as a method to discourage drug use in schools as well as to punish those students who brought firearms on school grounds. By the md 90s, many schools throughout the country had adopted these types of policies, expanding them to include zero-tolerance for violence and alcohol use, all with the goal to deter misbehavior.
So what has zero-tolerance policies gotten all wrong? Let’s take a look:
One of the ideas of these policies was the belief that removing students who disrupted the classroom would better the educational environment. Yet there have also been studies that have found students who are punished through these zero-tolerance policies by being removed from school (i.e. receiving out-of-school suspensions, referred to alternative schools), are more than likely to continue their negative behavior, more likely to do worse academically, and more likely to drop out. Both African American and Latino students are two times more likely to drop out than white students.
Another idea behind such policies was to also establish a set of rules that could be applied to everyone equally, yet studies have shown that African American students are disproportionately being punished than white students. While African American students make up only 16% of the entire student population, they account for 31% of arrests and 41% of suspensions.
Conclusions, Implications, and Recommendations
The idea use punishment as a buffer for misbehavior has backfired. Research has shown that zero-tolerance policies has done more harm than good, especially for African American students. It is slowly feeding our youth into our prison system, which already targets men of color.
Some states have begun to take initiatives against such policies. Illinois, for instance, has banned the use of zero-tolerance policies in their public and charter schools. But this is not enough. Zero-tolerance policies take little to no initiative to help prevent misbehavior or properly managing it. Instead, they are pushing these students away, directly to our criminal justice systems. We need to become more involved in our schools and encouraging them to stop using zero-tolerance policies and opt for more preventative measures, such as the Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS).
For more information on this preventative approach – and how this method can actually help make a difference in our youth’s lives – visit https://www.pbis.org/ for more information.