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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
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Results for zero tolerance
13 results foundAuthor: Sanneh, Sia Title: Dignity Denied: The Effect of Zero Tolerance Policies on Students' Human Rights: A Case Study of New Haven, Connecticut, Public Schools Summary: This report examines how the involvement of the criminal justice system in school discipline policies and practices causes deprivations of human rights for children in four key areas: the right to be free from discrimination, the right to education, the right to proportionality in punishment, and the right to freedom of expression. Drawing on a case study of the New Haven, Connecticut, public school system, this report describes the effects of the school-to-prison pipeline -- the process whereby discipline policies channel students out of school and into the criminal justice system -- and provides recommendations for improving policies and practices in order to ensure that students enjoy a safe and high-quality education without sacrificing their human rights. Details: New York: American Civil Liberties Union; Hartford, CT: American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut, 2008. 48p. Source: Yale Law School, Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic Year: 2008 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 116255 Keywords: School CrimeSchool DisciplineZero Tolerance |
Author: Moss, Kary Title: Reclaiming Michigan's Throwaway Kids: Students Trapped in the School to Prison Pipeline Summary: This report documents the disproportionate suspensions of public students of African descent in a significant number of school districts throughout Michigan. The school-to-prison pipeline problem experienced by these students and others is due in significant part to the following: a.) Lack of universal access to quality education; b.) Institutional obstacles that limit educational opportunities of children enrolled in school; c.) The loss of educational opportunities by large numbers of students because competing institutional concerns displace consideration of what is in the best interest of the child; d.) Sometimes insurmountable obstacles to restoration of lost educational opportunities; e.) The criminalization of students who lose their educational opportunities. These problems are manifested in the following specific ways: Access to Education • Children have no “right” to an education. Michigan’s constitution [Art. 8, Section 2] requires only that the state “maintain and support” a system of free schools in a nondiscriminatory manner. By contrast, the constitutions of more than 30 states require, in some form, that the state provide all children with a quality education. Michigan is one of only eleven states that fail to give students a right to a quality or adequate education. Thus, when Michigan’s racially disparate suspension and expulsion patterns and other factors remove large numbers of children from the educational system many have no prospects for access to additional education or the means to re-enter the educational system. Institutional Threats to Educational Opportunities • Michigan’s “zero tolerance” expulsion law is broader in scope than federal law requires, and it increases the chances of expulsion for all students, including students of African descent who are already expelled at high rates. The impact of this law on expulsion rates is compounded when administrators decline to exercise permissible discretion when considering whether the law’s harsh penalties are appropriate. • The absence of uniform procedural guidelines for suspensions and expulsions has sometimes resulted in failure to provide adequate opportunities for accused students to be heard and to otherwise defend themselves against accusations of misconduct. • The absence of safeguards against cultural misunderstanding, cultural ignorance and cultural conflict that account to some extent for disproportionate discipline of black students. • Some school districts’ failure to comply with laws that require evaluation and/or treatment of students with disabilities prior to suspension or expulsion. • Mechanical application of rules leading to suspension and expulsion without use of discretion or individualized consideration of circumstances that indicate that exclusion of certain children from school is inappropriate. Loss of Educational Opportunities • In a significant number of Michigan school districts, students of African descent are suspended and expelled at rates that are disproportionately high relative to their representation in the school population. In contrast, white students tend to be disciplined at rates that are proportionate to their numbers, or disproportionately less than their representation in the school population. • Many students who are suspended longterm, or who are expelled drop out of school altogether. Obstacles to Restoration of Lost Educational Opportunities • The process for readmission to school after expulsion is complex and may present insurmountable obstacles to low-income families that lack the wherewithal to prepare and timely submit required petitions. • Many students who have been suspended long-term or expelled have no alternative opportunities for learning or other productive activities. A 1985 Attorney General’s opinion that concluded that school districts are not required to establish or maintain alternative education programs has apparently contributed to confusion about whether, when and by whom these programs should be established. Nevertheless, Michigan’s statutory framework suggests that in some way, the state is responsible for providing alternative education opportunities to students who are excluded from school for extended periods of time. The Criminalization of Students • When school administrators refer some student discipline matters to law enforcement agencies, there is a consequent criminalization of many students whose offenses would otherwise have been dealt with entirely by school officials. • The growing presence in schools of “school resource officers,” and police personnel generally has resulted in not only arrests of students on school premises, but also incidents of police misconduct on school grounds. • It costs the state more to maintain a prisoner than it does to educate a student. This results in not only an immediate financial loss, but a long-term loss of the productive capacity of former students. Details: Detroit: American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, 2009. 76p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 21, 2011 at: http://www.aclumich.org/sites/default/files/file/reclaimingmichigansthrowawaykids.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://www.aclumich.org/sites/default/files/file/reclaimingmichigansthrowawaykids.pdf Shelf Number: 121473 Keywords: Delinquency Prevention (Michigan)EducationRacial DisparitiesSchool CrimeSchool DisciplineSchool Resource OfficersSchool SuspensionsStudent ExpulsionZero Tolerance |
Author: Sumner, Michael D. Title: School-Based Restorative Justice as an Alternative to Zero-Tolerance Policies: Lessons from West Oakland Summary: In this report we examine a pilot restorative justice program at a school that primarily served students of color from low-income families. We document the implementation of the program at Cole Middle School in West Oakland, California, and the observations and perceptions of those who participated in it. We also draw lessons from Cole’s experiences that we hope will be helpful to those interested in implementing school-based restorative justice. Restorative justice is an alternative to retributive zero-tolerance policies that mandate suspension or expulsion of students from school for a wide variety of misbehaviors including possession of alcohol or cigarettes, fighting, dress code violations, and cursing. Although zero-tolerance policies have resulted in substantial increases in student suspensions and expulsions for students of all races, African American and Hispanic/Latino youth are disproportionately impacted by a zero-tolerance approach. Under zero tolerance, suspensions and expulsions can directly or indirectly result in referrals to the juvenile and adult criminal systems where African American and Hispanic/Latino youth are also disproportionately represented. This phenomenon, part of a process that criminalizes students, has been termed the school-to-prison pipeline. Proponents of restorative justice have begun to promote school-based restorative justice as an alternative to zero-tolerance policies. Restorative justice is a set of principles and practices grounded in the values of showing respect, taking responsibility, and strengthening relationships. When harm occurs, restorative justice focuses on repair of harm and prevention of re-occurrence. Although preliminary research suggests that school-based restorative justice reduces violence, school suspensions, expulsions, and referrals to the juvenile and criminal justice systems, little research looks at the impact of restorative justice programs as an alternative to zero-tolerance policies for youth of color. This research seeks to fill that gap. The findings presented in this report are based on a case study of a single school conducted by researchers at the Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. Data are drawn from observations, openended interviews and a questionnaire along with statistics collected from published reports from the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) and the California Department of Education. Details: Berkeley, CA: Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, 2010. 40p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed on January 26, 2012 at http://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/11-2010_School-based_Restorative_Justice_As_an_Alternative_to_Zero-Tolerance_Policies.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/11-2010_School-based_Restorative_Justice_As_an_Alternative_to_Zero-Tolerance_Policies.pdf Shelf Number: 123776 Keywords: Delinquency PreventionEducationRacial DisparitiesRestorative JusticeSchool CrimeSchool DisciplineSchool SuspensionsStudent ExpulsionZero Tolerance |
Author: Ozdemir, Habib Title: Zero Tolerance in Implementation of Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1995 in the USA Summary: The Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1995 aimed to provide a safe environment to children in building their and nation's future. However, the harsh discipline suggested by this act may cause severe negative outcomes for kids‟ psychologies and judgment skills, especially by mandatory expulsions. Since the act decreased the illegal gun possession at schools and outlying areas, this paper proposes to continue the implementation of the act with some amendments. A suggested network comprised of educators, police, families, peer/youth organizations is assumed to improve the results of the act while promoting the role of teachers in the eyes of students and sharing their responsibilities with the courts in expelling students through court verdicts. In this project, police is the major institution in dealing with delinquency within schools and surroundings with specialized units. Families and peer/youth organizations are silent but more constructive units of this network. It is projected that there will a strong commitment and information sharing within the network components. Details: International Police Executive Symposium (IPES) and the Geneva Center for the Democratic Control of the Armed Forces (DCAF) and COGINTA., 2011. 19p. Source: Internet Resource: IPES/DCAF Working Paper No 32; Accessed February 6, 2012 at: http://www.ipes.info/WPS/WPS_No_32.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.ipes.info/WPS/WPS_No_32.pdf Shelf Number: 123993 Keywords: Gun ControlGun ViolenceGun-Free School ZonesSchool CrimeSchool SafetyZero Tolerance |
Author: Taylor, Rachel S. Title: Kept Out: Barriers to Meaningful Education in the School-To-Prison Pipeline Summary: In the United States today, a large subset of our student population is denied the right to an education. Most of these youth, low-income and at-risk, are already particularly vulnerable, yet rather than being provided support services and a meaningful education, they are labeled “undesirable” or “bad kids.” Denying access to education can produce life-altering results for any student, and for these vulnerable youth the effects are often especially dire. “Keep Out” is a phenomenon that occurs when students try to reenter a setting where they can access meaningful education and are denied by the policies and practices of the education and juvenile justice systems. Keep Out is a part of the larger School-To-Prison Pipeline. The Pipeline includes disciplinary and discretionary policies that push youth out of school and into the criminal justice system. Students of color, low-income students, and students with disabilities are disproportionately affected. This report is the product of interviews with over 100 stakeholders — including students, teachers, administrators, probation officers, education advocates, and many others — in Los Angeles, California, all of whom were interviewed in January of 2012. These interviews tell the stories of students who were unable to access education after being removed from school, often for disciplinary reasons. The report is organized around three main findings: “You Can’t Come Back” deals with direct Keep Out and tells the stories of students who, when trying to reenter their schools, were denied access or transferred away. Schools use a variety of excuses and evade general school-access requirements in order to keep these students out. • School safety concerns are often cited to justify student exclusion, which affects particularly vulnerable groups of students including youth on probation, girls who are pregnant, students with perceived and actual disciplinary problems, or those who are or are thought to be academically low performing. • Some students are kept out based on the rationale that they are too old, have too few credits, or some combination of the two. • Schools deny students access to education by transferring them away to schools that are physically inaccessible or unsafe for that student. “Slipping Through the Cracks” discusses indirect Keep Out and addresses what happens to students who are unable to reenter school because of administrative and logistical barriers. • Inadequate crediting and record keeping in alternative and juvenile justice schools impede students’ return to traditional schools by making enrollment and completion of sufficient credits for graduation nearly impossible. • Lack of coordination and planning among alternative schools, juvenile justice schools, and traditional schools prevents students from transitioning back to traditional schools. • Traditional schools are able to keep students out because students and families do not know the extent of their educational rights or how to enforce them. “School Is Not for Me” explains constructive Keep Out and highlights the stories of students whose school experiences have been so discouraging and inadequate that they have given up on pursuing a traditional education. • A lack of wrap-around services in traditional schools means that students’ most basic needs are often unmet, leaving little room for students and families to focus on education. • Students are not always given the support they need to succeed and are often harshly stigmatized when they are suspended, expelled, or associated with the criminal justice system. • Even if students are able to get back into a classroom, alternative and juvenile justice system schools often lack a consistent education that meets students’ needs. Details: Washington, DC: Georgetown Law School Human Rights Institute, 2012. 84p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 8, 2012 at: http://www.law.georgetown.edu/humanrightsinstitute/documents/keptout.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.law.georgetown.edu/humanrightsinstitute/documents/keptout.pdf Shelf Number: 125166 Keywords: EducationJuvenile Delinquency PreventionRacial DisparitiesSchool CrimeSchool DisciplineSchool Suspensions (U.S.)School-to-Prison PipelineZero Tolerance |
Author: American Civil Liberties Union of Florida Title: Still Haven't Shut Off the School-to-Prison Pipeline: Evaluating the Impact of Florida's New Zero-Tolerance Law Summary: In the spring of 2009, the Florida legislature amended its harsh zero-tolerance school discipline law with the passage of SB 1540. The law enacted some significant changes, such as encouraging schools to handle petty disciplinary infractions and misdemeanor offenses in school instead of relying on the juvenile justice system and exclusionary discipline. It seemed like after nearly a decade's worth of embarrassing news reports and multiple studies about the devastating effects of harsh school disciplinary practices in Florida schools, Florida was finally moving in the right direction. Unfortunately, our analysis demonstrates that meaningful reform has still not reached most of the schools - and students - across the state. While there has been some encouraging progress, the implementation of Florida's new zero-tolerance law has fallen substantially short of what is needed to adequately address the over-criminalization of Florida's youth and the over-reliance on exclusionary discipline by Florida's schools. For example: - Nearly half of all Florida school districts had more or the same number of referrals to the Department of Juvenile Justice following the passage of SB 1540 than they had the year before. - 67% of student referrals to the juvenile justice system were for misdemeanor offenses, meaning there were over 12,000 referrals just for these lower-level offenses. - Racial disparities in referrals to the juvenile justice system actually got worse after the passage of SB 1540. - Most school districts' policies still allow for extremely severe punishments - such as arrest, referral to law enforcement, and expulsion - for relatively minor infractions. Because Florida's students continue to have their educational opportunities - and thus, their life chances - limited by the over-use of harsh and unfair school discipline, there is an urgent need for action, at both the state and local levels. Fortunately, schools and districts across the country have already shown the way forward, and have pursued highly-effective strategies that can serve as a model for Florida. Still Haven't Shut Off the School-to-Prison Pipeline: Evaluating the Impact of Florida's New Zero-Tolerance Law presents a series of recommendations that, if implemented, can reduce Florida's dropout rate, build safer and more effective schools, limit the number of youth entering the juvenile and criminal justice systems, use the State's law enforcement agencies more efficiently, save taxpayer dollars, and build healthier communities throughout Florida. Details: Miami, FL: ACLU of Florida, 2012. 13p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 21, 2014 at: http://aclufl.org/resources/still-havent-shut-off-the-school-to-prison-pipeline-evaluating-the-impact-of-floridas-new-zero-tolerance-law/ Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://aclufl.org/resources/still-havent-shut-off-the-school-to-prison-pipeline-evaluating-the-impact-of-floridas-new-zero-tolerance-law/ Shelf Number: 132102 Keywords: Racial DisparitiesSchool CrimeSchool DisciplineSchool SuspensionsZero Tolerance |
Author: American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island Title: The School-to-Prison Pipeline in Black and White Summary: American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island today issued a report calling on state and municipal leaders to examine policies, practices and procedures that lead to discriminatory treatment of black Rhode Islanders, from elementary school through adulthood. The ACLU report, titled "The School-to-Prison Pipeline in Black and White," offers a brief but systematic examination of racial disparities in Rhode Island, and how those interconnected disparities can lead to a lifetime of unequal treatment. The report, presented in a series of twelve charts, comes as the nation celebrates Black History Month, and grapples with recent events that have pushed racial disparity issues back into the forefront. Data has long shown that black Rhode Islanders are disproportionally suspended from school, stopped and searched by police, arrested, and incarcerated. When this data is compiled, as it is in today's report, it becomes clear that the disproportionate singling out, scrutinizing, and punishing of black Rhode Islanders is a persistent and far-reaching problem and one that contributes to the school-to-prison pipeline, a systematic pattern of pushing students, especially minorities, out of the classroom and into the criminal justice system. The series of charts in today's report show how the disparate punishments doled out as early as elementary school lead to more black youth being swept up in the juvenile justice system where they face harsher punishment than their white counterparts. As adults, black Rhode Islanders are disproportionately stopped and searched by police, exacerbating disparities in arrest rates even when black and white individuals commit infractions at roughly the same rate. The end result of these racial disparities is a prison population that is disproportionately black. This racial disparity leaves the black community to bear the brunt of the socioeconomic consequences that follow incarceration, including lack of employment and denial of housing, perpetuating the cycle of unequal treatment. "Despite this growing body of evidence and consistent work by many to address these disparities, Rhode Island has lacked a comprehensive, strong response to resolve these issues. Worse, even as these disparities persist in the background, too many people still refuse to acknowledge their presence and the damaging effects that flow from them," the report stated. The ACLU urged the state and local leaders, particularly law enforcement agencies and school districts, to help stop the school-to-prison pipeline by regularly examining racial impact of their policies and procedures and developing plans to reduce any racial disparities. The ACLU also continues to support strong, comprehensive racial profiling legislation and legislation limiting the use of out-of-school suspensions. Details: Providence, RI: ACLU of Rhode Island, 2015. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 4, 2015 at: http://riaclu.org/images/uploads/School_to_Prison_Pipeline_in_Black_and_White_2015.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://riaclu.org/images/uploads/School_to_Prison_Pipeline_in_Black_and_White_2015.pdf Shelf Number: 134748 Keywords: Racial DiscriminationRacial ProfilingSchool Discipline (Rhode Island)School SuspensionZero Tolerance |
Author: Harvard Law School. Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice Title: Building Equalizing Schools Within Inclusive Communities: Strategies in the Classroom and Beyond that Redirect the School-to-Prison Pipeline Summary: We explore exclusionary discipline not necessarily because we consider it more important than all the other urgent challenges facing African-American males, though it is indeed a powerful generator of inequality. We choose to examine school discipline for three reasons. One, it offers a window into larger social inequalities and "a way in" to two distinct yet related arenas that have potentially significant and direct influences upon boys and men of color: education and criminal justice. Two, we consider harsh school discipline precisely because we can do something about it fairly immediately. This is both because there are clear alternatives and because a social-science consensus has emerged about its harms. And three, a close examination of the causes and cures for exclusionary school discipline - or "zero tolerance" - clearly illustrates the need to apply knowledge from a range of fields in developing lasting, effective policy and practice that gets to the root of complex, long-standing social problems. Drawing attention to the causes of and potential cures for exclusionary discipline offers a concrete, manageable way for educators, and the communities they serve, to begin to untangle and, perhaps, dismantle the more complex, often obscured opportunity-limiting structures of which school discipline is but one small part. Thus, for those of you who consider discipline not your "issue," or too narrow to spend time on, we urge you to read this report, because we believe there are lessons to draw and to apply to other policies and challenges. Details: Cambridge, MA: Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School, 2010. 80p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 13, 2016 at: http://www.racialequitytools.org/resourcefiles/Harvard_-_Building_Equalizing_Schools_-_Full_Report.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://www.racialequitytools.org/resourcefiles/Harvard_-_Building_Equalizing_Schools_-_Full_Report.pdf Shelf Number: 137559 Keywords: School CrimeSchool DisciplineSchool-to-Prison PipelineZero Tolerance |
Author: Redfield, Sarah E. Title: School-To-Prison Pipeline: Preliminary Report Summary: In 2014, the American Bar Association (ABA) Coalition on Racial and Ethnic Justice (COREJ) turned its attention to the continuing failures in the education system where certain groups of students - for example, students of color, with disabilities, or LGBTQ - are disproportionately over- or incorrectly categorized in special education, are disciplined more harshly, including referral to law enforcement for minimal misbehavior, achieve at lower levels, and eventually drop or are pushed out of school, often into juvenile justice facilities and prisons - a pattern now commonly referred to as the School-to-Prison Pipeline (StPP). While this problem certainly is not new, it presented a convergence of several laws, policies, and practices where the legal community's intervention is critical. Joined by the ABA Pipeline Council and Criminal Justice Section, and supported by its sister ABA entities, COREJ sponsored a series of eight Town Halls across the country to investigate the issues surrounding this pipeline. The focus of these Town Halls was to 1) explore the issues as they presented themselves for various groups and various locales; 2) gather testimony on solutions that showed success, with particular focus on interventions where the legal community could be most effective in interrupting and reversing the StPP; and 3) draw attention to the role implicit bias plays in creating and maintaining this pipeline. This report is a result of those convenings. Also a result was the formation of a Joint Task Force among the three convening entities to provide an organizational structure to address Reversing the School-to-Prison Pipeline (RStPP) To analyze the complexities surrounding the school-to-prison pipeline and identify potential solutions to reverse these negative trends, the Joint RStPP Task Force: 1. Organized and conducted eight Town Hall meetings in various parts of the United States during which several area experts and community members voiced concerns, discussed the problems, and proposed solutions. 2. Analyzed and cumulated national data from the U.S. Department of Education's Civil Rights Data Collection and other available local data to gauge the magnitude and scope of the problems. 3. Served as a clearinghouse for information and reports relevant to the RStPP effort and disseminated that information. 4. Examined national and state laws and local school district's policies and practices that have combined to push an increasing number of students out of school and into the justice system. 5. Analyzed laws that several states have enacted to reverse the school-to-prison pipeline. 6. Evaluated evidence-based policies and practices that various schools have implemented to reverse the school-to-prison pipeline. 7. Organized and conducted a roundtable discussion to focus exclusively on mapping out solutions to reverse these negative trends by identifying model programs and successful strategies. 8. Planned for two additional Town Halls focused on LGBTQ (San Diego) and entry points to the pipeline and juvenile justice (Memphis). 9. Drafted this preliminary report and prepared recommendations for consideration by the larger ABA. Details: Chicago: American Bar Association, Coalition on Racial and Ethnic Justice, 2016. 167p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 22, 2016 at: http://jjie.org/files/2016/02/School-to-Prison-Pipeline-Preliminary-Report-Complete-Final.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: http://jjie.org/files/2016/02/School-to-Prison-Pipeline-Preliminary-Report-Complete-Final.pdf Shelf Number: 137937 Keywords: Racial DiscriminationRacial DisparitiesRacial Profiling School DisciplineSchool Suspension School-to-Prison PipelineZero Tolerance |
Author: Walsh, Vanessa Title: Misbehavior or Misdemeanor? A Report on the Utah's School to Prison Pipeline, Summary: The school to prison pipeline is a national trend where children are funneled out of public schools and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems. This trend is exacerbated by zero tolerance policies and criminalizing behavior that should be handled inside schools instead of resorting to law enforcement action. Students who are suspended, expelled, referred to law enforcement, or have a school related arrest are more likely to not finish high school than their peers. Within this pipeline are major issues that need to be addressed. There are unacceptably high racial disparities. We are suspending too many kids. Despite common belief, Utah is not doing any better than the nation at large. The U.S. Department of Education Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) has provided data on key education and civil rights issues in our nation's public schools since 1968. The following report uses this data to explore these areas and how they apply to Utah specifically. - Recent national data shows that students of color are disproportionately singled out for suspensions, expulsions, referrals to law enforcement as well as school-based arrests. - Utah is not immune to these trends. Although the total number of disciplinary actions in Utah is decreasing, disproportionality along racial demographics continue to exist, and in some cases, is getting worse. - In the 2013-2014 school year, almost 9% of black students, 8.5% of American - Indian students, and approximately 5% of Pacific Islander and Hispanic students received a suspension. In comparison, only slightly more than 2% of white students were suspended. - In the 2011-2012 school year, Hispanic students were 1.3 times more likely than white students to be expelled. This increased to 2.3 times more likely in 2013-2014. Asian students were less likely than white students to be expelled in 2011, but they were 3.3 times more likely to be expelled in the 2013-2014. - During the 2013-2014 school year, 1.5% of American Indian students and almost 1.2% of black students were referred to law enforcement. In comparison, less than one half of one percent (0.4%) of white students received this action - American Indian students were 6.2 times more likely than white classmates to be arrested at school in the 2011-2012 school year. That disparity increased to 8.8 times more likely in the 2013-2014 school year. Similarly, Pacific Islanders were 1.7 times more likely in 2011-2012 and 3.3 times more likely in 2013-2014. - American Indian student feel the brunt of school disciplinary actions in every category except in-school suspensions. Overall,10.3% of all American Indian students received some sort of school disciplinary action in the 2013-2014 school year. In comparison, 5.6% of all other students of color received an action, and 2.6% of the white student population received an action. Details: Salt Lake City: University of Utah, S.J. Quinney College of Law, Public Policy Clinic, 2017. 35p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 7, 2018 at: http://utahchildren.org/images/pdfs-doc/2017/Misbehavior_or_Misdemeanor_-_Report_on_Utahs_School_to_Prison_Pipeline.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: http://utahchildren.org/images/pdfs-doc/2017/Misbehavior_or_Misdemeanor_-_Report_on_Utahs_School_to_Prison_Pipeline.pdf Shelf Number: 149016 Keywords: Racial Disparities School Discipline School SuspensionsSchool-to-Prison PipelineZero Tolerance |
Author: Thohoyandou Victim Empowerment Programme (TVEP) Title: The Effectiveness of a Model for Addressing School-Related Gender-Based Violence (SRGBV) in South Africa: An Evaluation of the 'Zero Tolerance School Alliance' Summary: Executive Summary This study fostered the prevention of, and strengthened response to, school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) in South African schools, by adapting an effective, adult-centric, community-based GBV prevention - the Zero Tolerance Village Alliance - to help mitigate SRGBV among children in secondary school. This adapted, child-centric version - the 'Zero Tolerance School Alliance' (ZTSA) - was implemented in 2016 and 2017 in one public secondary school in Vhembe district, Limpopo province, South Africa. The study's pre- and post-intervention design with a comparison group (one public secondary school) evaluated ZTSAs effectiveness with: 1) a baseline and endline school survey of students grades 8 through 12, and 2) focus group discussions (FGDs) with students, parents, and school personnel. This report summarizes the results of this ZTSA evaluation. Key messages from this evaluation include: - The Zero Tolerance School Alliance (ZTSA) model reduces female students witnessing of violence en route to school. The intervention significantly contributed to a reduction (12%) in the proportion of intervention site girls who witnessed violence en route to school, compared to an increase (24%) among their comparison site peers. - The ZTSA model reduces students' experiences of certain kinds of SRGBV on their way to school. The intervention significantly contributed to reducing intervention site students experiences of teasing or kidnapping on the way to school - a six percent and two percent reduction, respectively - versus eight percent increases for both indicators in the comparison school. - The ZTSA model is effective in reducing bullying of girls in school. The proportion of girls reporting bullying at school in the last year declined significantly in the intervention school (a 14% reduction). - ZTSA enhances students knowledge of whom to report SRGBV to when it occurs. Among students in the intervention school who reported bullying in the last year, there was a significant (31%) decrease in the proportion not knowing whom to report it. Among comparison school counterparts, there was no significant change in this indicator. - ZTSA promotes support for bullied students. Among intervention school students who reported bullying in the last year, there was a significant increase (of 17%) in the proportion receiving help for this problem. Conversely, comparison school peers experienced a 23 percent decline in help for bullying. - The ZTSA intervention broadens students' sources of information on childrens SRGBV rights. Intervention school students drew upon a wider range of sources for knowledge on their rights, in contrast to comparison school peers. The ZTSA model was effective in reaching students through friends, the intervention school, and community leaders. These intervention site changes were statistically significant. - The ZTSA model increases students knowledge of their right to not be subjected to violence. Among the various aspects of childrens rights, the intervention had the greatest impact in improving students awareness of their right to not be abused (from 82% to 92% in the intervention school). There was no significant change in the same indicator for the comparison site. - Some aspects of the ZTSA model require strengthening to more fully address SRGBV consequences. In its current form ZTSA does not affect several indicators, which the model needs to address: - Students perceptions of safety in and around school Students perceptions of safety in and around school: The proportion of students (boys and girls) from both schools who indicated fear of walking to school increased significantly at endline. Student fears of walking to school remained similar in both groups between baseline and endline, with no statistically significant changes in the proportion of students who feel "very or somewhat safe" at school. Students' experience of SRGBV in and around school While the intervention significantly contributed to reducing experience of certain aspects of violence (such as being teased or kidnapped), it did not lead to reductions in other forms of violence, such as being attacked, bullied, or unwanted touching. ZTSA did not lead to a reduction in the proportion of intervention school boys (as opposed to girls) experiencing bullying in school, nor in the proportion of intervention school boys and girls alike who experienced unwanted sexual touching at school. Conclusion The Zero Tolerance School Alliance is a promising intervention engendering prevention of certain aspects of SRGBV in as little as a year. Along with several encouraging findings, this study reveals remaining gaps and areas that require strengthening if SRGBV is to be more comprehensively and effectively addressed. The study results suggest that a more balanced focus on both boys and girls (rather than girls, primarily) will help produce equally positive results for boys. Findings also indicate gender differences in the experience and reporting of violence. These differences should be taken into account for targeted approaches. The gaps revealed by this study also point to a need for integrating new, targeted components into the overall intervention model to address areas in which the intervention produced no change. Findings from this study are currently being used by the Thohoyandou Victim Empowerment Programme to further refine ZTSA. Details: South Africa, 2018. 25p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 5, 2018 at: https://www.popcouncil.org/uploads/pdfs/2018RH_ZeroToleranceSchoolAlliance.pdf Year: 2018 Country: South Africa URL: https://www.popcouncil.org/uploads/pdfs/2018RH_ZeroToleranceSchoolAlliance.pdf Shelf Number: 151475 Keywords: Bully Crime Prevention Gender-Based Violence Kidnapping Zero Tolerance |
Author: National Council of La Raza Title: School-to-Prison Pipeline: Zero Tolerance for Latino Youth Summary: The establishment of zero-tolerance policies has resulted in schools implementing harsh exclusionary discipline practices for increasingly minor and illusory infractions, such as school uniform violations, profanity, and disrespect. Under these policies, students are pushed out of mainstream educational environments and placed on a path toward incarceration through the use of suspensions, expulsions, and arrests. Zero-tolerance was originally applied to the criminal justice system in the 1980s as an approach to combat violent crime and drug related offenses. In the 1990s, school systems began to adopt zero-tolerance policies as a result of the Gun Free Schools Act of 1994. The impetus behind this act was to protect students from violent or illegal behavior on or near school grounds. The establishment of these policies has roughly doubled the number of students who have been suspended or expelled since the 1970s. According to the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR), nearly three million students are suspended at least once each year and over 100,000 students are expelled. The punitive nature of zero-tolerance policies has led to racial and ethnic disparities within school and juvenile justice systems. In addition, the negative outcomes associated with zero-tolerance policies have been escalated with the placement of police on school grounds. This occurrence has resulted in an increase in the number of school-based arrests and referrals to juvenile court systems for infractions that were once handled by school administrators. The criminalization of certain kinds of school misconduct has created what is often referred to as the "school-to-prison pipeline." Details: Washington, DC: National Council of La Raza, 2011. 8p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 21, 2019 at: https://www.sccgov.org/sites/pdo/ppw/pubs/documents/zerotolerance_factsheet22011.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: https://www.sccgov.org/sites/pdo/ppw/pubs/documents/zerotolerance_factsheet22011.pdf Shelf Number: 155943 Keywords: Juvenile Justice System Juveniles Latino Youth School-to-Prison Pipeline Vulnerable Communities Youth Zero Tolerance |
Author: Ribeiro, Haroldo V. Title: Unveiling Relationships Between Crime and Property in England and Wales via Density Scale-Adjusted Metrics and Network Tools Summary: Scale-adjusted metrics (SAMs) are a significant achievement of the urban scaling hypothesis. SAMs remove the inherent biases of per capita measures computed in the absence of isometric allometries. However, this approach is limited to urban areas, while a large portion of the world's population still lives outside cities and rural areas dominate land use worldwide. Here, we extend the concept of SAMs to population density scale-adjusted metrics (DSAMs) to reveal relationships among different types of crime and property metrics. Our approach allows all human environments to be considered, avoids problems in the definition of urban areas, and accounts for the heterogeneity of population distributions within urban regions. By combining DSAMs, cross-correlation, and complex network analysis, we find that crime and property types have intricate and hierarchically organized relationships leading to some striking conclusions. Drugs and burglary had uncorrelated DSAMs and, to the extent property transaction values are indicators of affluence, twelve out of fourteen crime metrics showed no evidence of specifically targeting affluence. Burglary and robbery were the most connected in our network analysis and the modular structures suggest an alternative to "zero-tolerance" policies by unveiling the crime and/or property types most likely to affect each other. Details: Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Kennedy School, 2018. 21p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 21, 2019 at: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0192931&type=printable Year: 2018 Country: International URL: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1802.00972.pdf Shelf Number: 157039 Keywords: Burglary Networks Property Crime Robbery Zero Tolerance |