Reforming School Policing

• In Event: Roundtable: The Many Colors of Criminal Justice Reform

Abstract

For many children of color, the first contact with the criminal justice system results from infractions originating in the school setting. Administrators and teachers, lacking financial in the school setting. Also, because of policy resources, are stretched to their limit and have little time or training to address children with behavioral, psychological, or medical disorders efforts touting a ‘Get Tough on Crime’ message (e.g. Zero Tolerance), many students find that minor infractions that used to end with a call to a parent now end with school separation. Children who experience school separation are more likely to have subsequent contact with police because of legal requirements attached to the school-based offense, the resulting break from the norms and values of the community, increased access to negative peers, and decreased chance for identification or treatment of emotional or behavioral disorders. Because schools occupy an important role in the lives of children, families, and communities, many are now looking for alternative approaches to school-based discipline that limit these police contacts. This talk will review these issues and highlight several state-of-the-art programs, such as California’s ban on the use of suspension for ‘willful defiance’, leading the way in reforming school policing.

Author

• Monic P. Behnken, Iowa State University