OLR Report 2013-R-0354 explains whether (1) Connecticut statutes or regulations provide a uniform discipline policy for school weapon incidents and (2) Connecticut or other states have initiatives to deter such incidents in schools.
Connecticut law imposes a uniform discipline policy with respect to students who bring firearms, deadly weapons, dangerous instruments, or martial arts weapons to school or to off-campus school activities. Also, students who carry a firearm or deadly weapon face criminal charges under Connecticut’s penal code.
This uniform expulsion policy does not extend to students who possess other categories of potentially dangerous objects or devices. In these cases, individual school districts determine the appropriate discipline, which may include suspension.
Many school districts and states have taken steps to deter students from bringing weapons and other potentially dangerous devices to school. Initiatives include (1) peer reporting, (2) search and seizure, (3) policing, (4) code of conduct revisions, (5) violence reduction education, and (6) social/emotional intervention. Current initiatives promoted by the Connecticut State Department of Education consist mainly of social/emotional intervention techniques that address a range of behavior problems.
Notably, some initiatives to deter weapons in school have faced constitutional challenges. Federal and state courts have weighed in on whether various weapons deterrent initiatives violate students’ constitutional rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments, as well as under the civil rights acts.
For more information, read the full report.
