Change in Racial/Ethnic Composition and School Punishment

• In Event: 1429 - Informal Discussion Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 6: Punishment and Social Institutions

Abstract

Since 2010, the use of school suspensions has slowed down and slightly declined. The purpose of this study is to examine whether changes in racial/ethnic composition at the school level are associated with changes in school punishment (suspensions, expulsions, and arrests) in an era where districts and schools are reconsidering their discipline policies and adopting alternative (lenient) forms of punishment (Anyon et al. 2016). It is important to understand whether schools that experienced growth in minority student population, specifically Latino student population are disproportionately punishing students. This is of concern, as young Latinos in this political context are increasingly perceived as threatening, who are criminally inclined and linked to drugs and gangs such as MS-13 (Rios & Vigil, 2017). Thus, in this study I ask do changes in racial/ethnic composition at the school-level lead to changes in school discipline (suspension, expulsion, arrest)? I plan to use a nationally representative dataset and predict that we may find support for threat theory.

Author

• Gerardo V. Cuevas, Penn State University