School Referrals and the Juvenile Justice System: Understanding the School to Prison Pipeline

• In Event: The School Context and Juvenile Delinquency

Abstract

Since the 1990s, the American educational system has adopted zero tolerance disciplinary policies with the goal of reducing school violence and fostering a safe learning environment. One consequence of these ‘get tough’ policies has been the growth of the school to prison pipeline, which funnels troubled students out of schools into the juvenile justice system. Despite being an essential component of the school-to-prison pipeline, school referrals to the juvenile justice system remain largely understudied. To that end, the current study uses the focal concerns perspective and data taken from the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, to specifically assess whether the combined effects of race, ethnicity and gender impact two juvenile court decision points – diversion and adjudication – after a student has been referred to the juvenile justice system by school administrators. Ultimately, this research demonstrates how disparities in school punishment play an important role in the school-to-prison pipeline by disproportionately funneling youth into the juvenile justice system.

Authors

• Patricia Y. Warren, Florida State University

• Mayra Picon, Florida State University

• Eric A. Stewart, Florida State University