The judges also pointed to research showing that a first-time arrest doubles the odds that a student will drop out of high school, and that an initial court appearance quadruples them. They endorsed the American Psychological Association’s, Council of State Governments’, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s positions that extreme discipline, including arrests, predict grade retention, school dropout, and future involvement in the juvenile and criminal justice systems. And having an arrest record follows a student when he or she leaves school, making it harder to get into college or the military or get a job.
In their view, the influx of police in schools reflects schools’ adoption of policies and practices that push young people out of school and into the school-to-jail pipeline. In their place, the judges support:
- Eliminating “zero tolerance policies,” thereby giving school administrators discretion in handling student misbehavior;
- Testing and implementing school-wide violence prevention programs, social skills curricula, family engagement, and positive behavior supports;
- Adopting “restorative justice” practices, (i.e., focusing on the needs of the offender and victim);
- Collaborations among juvenile justice agencies, schools, and the community to foster positive relationships with students to promote student attendance and academic success; and
- Judicially-led collaborations to reduce school exclusions with intensive training, technical assistance, and public education.
