Implementing Restorative Justice in Schools: Case Studies and Lessons Learned

• In Event: Restorative Justice in Schools and Communities

Abstract

The “school-to-prison pipeline” is common parlance referring to the impact of zero tolerance disciplinary policies in the United States on school suspensions and expulsions, especially felt among minority students of color. Spurred by increases in disciplinary referrals, suspensions and expulsions, as well as unacceptable racial disparity in school discipline outcomes, restorative justice practices (RJP) are increasingly sought as an alternative to traditional school disciplinary policy. Implementing RJP involves complex skills and strategies and district level decision makers, such as school boards and superintendents, must devote consistent and persistent energy, support and resources to the implementation effort. At the same time, schools must embrace and “own” RJP, implementing in ways that suit the unique environment, population and climate of their individual school. Drawing from case studies of implementation efforts in three districts in a southeastern state, this paper examines how restorative justice in schools is implemented as an alternative to punitive discipline policy and for reducing racial disciplinary disparity. It then examines organizational and cultural supports and impediments to successfully implementing restorative justice to reduce suspensions, overcome racial disciplinary inequity for school-based youth. It concludes that RJP must be engaged as systemic change, rather than merely incremental adjustment within existing systems.

Author

• Mara Schiff, Florida Atlantic University