School Discipline, Zero Tolerance Policies, and American K-12 Education

Abstract

This chapter reviews some of the history of establishing public schools through compulsory attendance laws for children, as well as the use of school discipline over time. The primary focus is on more recent times whereby the public schools across the country followed the juvenile justice system's “tough on crime” pathway since the 1990s. The increased use of zero tolerance policies and police (safety resource officers) in the schools has exponentially increased school-based arrests and referrals to the juvenile courts. These policies have not increased school safety and in many cases have inadvertently made schools less safe. These changes have also disproportionately ensnared a smaller group of at-risk and already disadvantaged students, including certain minorities, those with special education disabilities, and those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT).