Examining The School-to-Prison Pipeline in Florida

• In Event: Examining the School-to-Prison-Pipeline

Abstract

A large proportion of Florida youth who are referred to the state’s juvenile justice system are arrested at public schools. This occurrence is commonly referred to as the gateway to the “school-to-prison pipeline”. The “pipeline” signifies a reliance on zero-tolerance policies in schools and serves as a mechanism that funnels children into the juvenile or criminal justice systems. While empirical research is limited on the variation in referrals across schools, the effects of the community in which the school is embedded, and the direct impacts that the referrals may have on youth’s future outcomes, research has shown that arrests and court involvement increase the probability of dropping out of high school which in turn leads to future delinquency. Using data from the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (FDJJ), Department of Education, and county contextual measures, we compare cohorts of youth who received school-based referrals to FDJJ with matched youth who received referrals outside school. Analyses will compare the differences between school-based referrals relative to other referrals based on individual, school-level, and county-level factors to determine whether youth are adversely impacted relative to their future offending and immersion in the juvenile justice system.

Authors

• Julie Mestre Brancale, Florida State University

• George Pesta, Florida State University