School-to-Prison Pipeline

Juvenile crime rates have declined steadily since 1994 (Nelson & Lind, 2015) and the number of youths in juvenile detention centers has dropped (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2011; Hockenberry, 2014; Nelson & Lind, 2015; Smith, 1998); however, school discipline polices are moving in the other direction (Nelson & Lind, 2015). In recent years, the lines between the public school system and the juvenile justice system have become indistinct. There are several trends in K-12 education contributing to the school-to-prison pipeline such as declining school funding, resegregation of schools by race and class, under-representation of students of color in advanced placement, over-representation of student of color in special education, the creation and expansion of “zero-tolerance” policies, tracking, increased presence of SROs, No Child Left Behind (NCLB), standardized testing, and rising drop-out rates (Heitzeg et al., 2009). However, the focus here is the expansion and increased reliance on “zero-tolerance” policies and the use of the SRO to enforce those policies which play an immediate and integral role in feeding the school-to-prison pipeline.