Which Schools Disproportionately Refer and Arrest Nonwhite Students?

• In Event: The School-to-Prison and Prison-to-School Pipelines: Studies of the Nexus of Schooling and the Justice System

Abstract

The School-to-Prison Pipeline disproportionately affects Black and Latinx students. This exploratory study analyzed the Civil Rights Data Collection, focusing on schools whose racial composition and non-zero criminal justice referral or arrest rates allow appropriate study of racial disproportionality. Previous analyses produced biased results by failing to restrict attention to such schools. We also found that a very small percentage of schools had unusually high referral or arrest rates; these outliers warrant further investigation. Blacks had by far the highest referral and arrest rates, followed by Latinx and then White students. A higher percentage of low income or nonwhite students reduced racial disproportionality in referrals and arrests, while the presence of a police officer is not related to disproportionality.

Authors

• Ha Eun Kim, University of California - Irvine

• George Farkas, University of California - Irvine