Restorative for All? Racial Disproportionality and School Discipline Under Restorative Justice

• In Event: School Discipline and School Choice: Racial Inequities Within Neoliberal Policy Contexts

Abstract

The detriments and racial disparities in school discipline have led many school districts in the U.S. to adopt restorative justice practices that emphasize restitution rather than suspension. While models of restorative justice are theoretically promising, scholarly evaluation of restorative practices in schools is limited. This study used student-level administrative data from the Oregon Department of Education to measure the impact of restorative justice on student discipline in Portland area schools between the 2007-2015 school years. Results indicate that restorative justice implementation had varying effects by race—with White students benefiting most from restorative justice. These results suggest dissonance in the racialized construction of restorative justice policies and point to the need of further scholarly evaluation of restorative justice practices.

Author

• Miles Davison, University of California - Irvine