School Disciplinarity and Carceral Outcomes: A Longitudinal Study of the "School-to-Prison Pipeline"

• In Event: Restorative Justice and School Discipline

Abstract

Schools and prisons populate the social imagination as antipodal institutions. However, recent advocacy and scholarship argues that schools play a role in linking youth to the criminal justice system. Proponents of the “school-to-prison-pipeline” argue that punitive school discipline can set students on a carceral trajectory. While a causal link between school discipline and incarceration has not yet been proven, the possibility raises important questions for scholars of school-effects and inequality. This study is the first to test the pipeline hypothesis using nationally representative longitudinal data. Findings suggest that schools’ disciplinary responses to certain infractions independently influence students’ risk of later arrest. These findings lend qualified support to claims that the “pipeline” operates through the sanctioning of minor and subjective offenses.

Author

• Meg Caven, Brown University