Intended Consequences, Deliberate Impact: Historical Perspectives on the Creation of the "Discipline Gap"

• In Event: 60.034 - Historical Antecedents of Current Trends

Abstract

The disproportionate suspension and criminalization of black students is the subject of increased national, state and local scrutiny. Explanations for this “discipline gap” tend to depict this trend as an “unintended consequence” of punitive policies implemented with “disparate impact.” In this paper, using the post-war transformation of New York City’s disciplinary policies as a case, I demonstrate that these policies were never neutral, nor where their outcomes unintended. Rather, I argue that punitive policies emerged out of the fraught racial politics surrounding school integration. Categorizing black youth as dangerous and unruly legitimized policies that limited the democratic responsibilities of public schools. Accordingly, race, racism and racial politics are woven into the original fabric of the policies creating the discipline gap.

Author

• Rachel Ellen Lissy, Ramapo for Children