News items related to school-to-prison pipeline

Radio Smart Talk: School Safety: Mar 26, 2013; What Sandy Hook [-] did was shine a spotlight on school safety.
In Our View: Vigilance on CampusClark County Safe Schools Task Force has districts working together: Jan 19, 2013; In Our View: Vigilance on CampusClark County Safe Schools Task Force has districts working together Columbian, January, 18, 2013
Zero-Tolerance Policies in U.S. Schools are Ineffective and Unaffordable: Jan 14, 2013; Zero-Tolerance Policies in U.S. Schools are Ineffective and Unaffordable Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, January 14, 2013
Most support alternatives to school discipline policies: Randall Shelden, Apr 19, 2012; I recently wrote a blog called School Discipline and the Prison Pipeline which was a follow-up to a more detailed commentary on my web site . Recently there was a survey called "California Statewide Survey on School Discipline Issues" (conducted by Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates) which was based upon a telephone survey of a random sample of 803 California voters. About 80% of those polled supported reforms in the ways in which school discipline was practiced. For example,…
School Discipline and the Prison Pipeline: Randall Shelden, Mar 20, 2012; A New York Times story cites research by the Department of Education that concludes that "Although black students made up only 18 percent of those enrolled in the schools sampled, they accounted for 35 percent of those suspended once, 46 percent of those suspended more than once and 39 percent of all expulsions" during the 2009/2010 school year, based upon national data. Not surprisingly the story drew more than 400 comments from readers. A few readers asked the very important question of…
School-to-prison pipeline [video]: Randall Shelden, Mar 13, 2012; CJCJ's Senior Research Fellow, Randall Shelden, discusses the school-to-prison pipeline in this video blog. He notes, "dropping out should be seen as a process, not an event." His most recent publication blends theory, research, and applications into a superb overview of the complex issues surrounding juvenile delinquency and society's attempts to address juvenile crime: Randall G. Shelden. (2011). Delinquency and Juvenile Justice in American Society, 2nd ed. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press .…
Holder targets school discipline practices: 'unacceptable,' 'destructive': Feb 27, 2012; Holder targets school discipline practices: 'unacceptable,' 'destructive' The Daily Caller, February 27, 2012
Cops in Schools: Randall Shelden, Feb 16, 2012; The evidence is clear: having police on school campuses creates more problems than it solves. This evidence has been provided by a detailed report from the Justice Policy Institute (JPI) called "Education Under Arrest: The Case Against Police in Schools ." The reported noted that between 1997 and 2007 the number of "school resource officers" (SRO's) increased by 38%, largely as a result of zero tolerance policies enacted during this time. Paralleling this growth has been the increase of…
Obama needs better plan for youth: Jan 30, 2012; Obama needs better plan for youth Politico, January 30, 2012
Can restorative justice halt the school-to-prison pipeline?: Emily Luhrs, Nov 29, 2011; Earlier this month I had the opportunity to attend a two-day conference entitled, "Exposing Structural Racism from Within: The Power of Restorative Justice," sponsored by the Henderson Center for Social Justice at UC Berkeley. Conferences, especially those in an academic environment, usually tend to focus only on the problems, however this time I left with an overwhelmed, yet hopeful, mind. While there was plenty of theoretical discourse on how, and if, restorative justice as a model has the…
Student privacy vs. teacher safety: Jun 14, 2011; Student privacy vs. teacher safety Houston Chronicle, June 14, 2011
Schools Still Safest Places for Kids*: Randall Shelden, May 17, 2011; Following the killings at Columbine and other schools around the country in the late 1990s, public officials reacted with a frenzy. It was a classic case of exception-based policies: a few, isolated cases that were clearly the exception rather than the rule became the basis for wide-ranging policies. One report noted at the time that "A moral panic swept the country as parents and children suddenly feared for their safety at school." One middle-school principal claimed school shootings could…
Education as Crime Prevention: Randall Shelden, Apr 1, 2011; It has become a truism among criminologists that there is an inverse correlation between education and crime: as the level of education increases the likelihood of committing crime decreases. One theory that helps explain this is known as "strain" theory. This theory was originally articulated by sociologist Robert K. Merton in the 1930s and has since become one of the most popular theories of crime. The basic thesis of strain theory is this: Crime stems from the lack of articulation or…
Column: Phoebe Prince, Bullying, and Me: Apr 9, 2010; Column: Phoebe Prince, Bullying, and Me The Boston Globe, April 9, 2010
The Myth of Mean Girls: Apr 1, 2010; The Myth of Mean Girls New York Times, April 1, 2010
School safety programs that work: Jun 22, 2009; School safety programs that work Examiner.com, June 15, 2009
Resurrecting Radical Non-Intervention: Stop the War on Kids: Apr 1, 2004; Resurrecting Radical Non-Intervention: Stop the War on Kids
School House Hype: Two Years Later: Apr 1, 2000; School House Hype: Two Years Later
School House Hype: The School Shootings, and the Real Risks Kids Face in America: Jul 1, 1998; School House Hype: The School Shootings, and the Real Risks Kids Face in America