School-to-Prison Pipeline

Abstract

Juvenile crime rates have declined steadily since 1994 and the number of youths in juvenile detention centers has dropped; however, school discipline polices are moving in the other direction. In recent years, the lines between the public school system and the juvenile justice system have become indistinct. There are several trends in K-12 education contributing to the school-to-prison pipeline such as declining school funding, resegregation of schools by race and class, under-representation of students of color in advanced placement, over-representation of student of color in special education, the creation and expansion of “zero-tolerance” policies, tracking, increased presence of SROs, No Child Left Behind (NCLB), standardized testing, and rising drop-out rates. However, the focus here is the expansion and increased reliance on “zero-tolerance” policies and the use of the SRO to enforce those policies which play an immediate and integral role in feeding the school-to-prison pipeline.