Policy Brief: Overcoming the School-to-Prison Pipeline

Summary

Today, schools throughout the United States employ strategies that result in the pushing of students out of schools and into prisons at alarming rates. This hostile pattern has coined the term “school-to-prison pipeline.” Unfortunately, mass targets of this system include racial minorities and disabled children, mainly due to the “zero-tolerance” policies in many schools. We must, therefore, block the pipeline with our two-pronged policy aimed at altering the ways in which both teachers and law enforcement handle at-risk youth. 

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The Problem

Each year, there is an increase in policies using physical restraint and immediate school-suspensions against minority and disabled students. The more students are punished in school, the more likely they are to face the criminal system outside of school. Although black children only make up 18% of students in America, they account for 46% of those suspended. Similarly, 1 in 4 disabled black students face suspension versus the 1 in 11 disabled white students.

Current Policies

There are several lawsuits currently fighting to end the school-to-prison pipeline however, a 38% increase in school resource officers within the past decade has occurred. With more policing comes more criminalization of students. As zero-tolerance policies continue, minority and disabled students continue to funnel into the prison system.

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Policy Recommendations

While the solution in overcoming the school-to-prison pipeline is complex and requires paradigm systematic shifts, there are several small-scale approaches that can decrease the rates of student criminalization. Our recommendation follows a two-pronged approach:

• Training teachers on the increased use of positive behavior, increasing the implementation of support over punishment for at-risk students; and

• Limiting the numbers, powers, and use of force of law enforcement on campuses.

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Conclusion

The possibility of prevailing against the systematic hardships placed against minority and disabled students exists and cannot be ignored. The enactment of small scale policies such as our two-pronged approach allows for the steady diversion from the current patterns of repression. It is upon the diversion of the school-to-prison pipeline that we are then able to tackle the greater problem: the inequality in education within the United States of America.