Circles and SROs: School Police Adopt the Discourse of Restorative Justice

• In Event: AERA Virtual Poster Session 3
  In Poster Session: Division L Section 7 Poster Session

Abstract

School resource officers (SROs), or school police, have become a standard presence in K-12 US schools. In the last decade, resistance to school policing has intensified and gained national attention. Some school districts have begun to eliminate punitive discipline policies and to introduce alternative approaches, such as restorative justice. In this paper, I examine how SROs and their professional organizations, which work to defend SROs’ presence in schools, have responded to the growing acceptance and introduction of restorative practices in schools. Through observations at school policing conferences and trainings and interviews with SROs and their supervisors, I show how SROs have sought to assert their professional legitimacy with the rise of restorative practices in education.

Author

• Rachel Garver, Montclair State University