The Issue of School to Prison Pipeline in The United States

Schools in is the US are known for their history of gun-violence and American citizens and politicians are still trying to agree on ways to prevent them. School shootings can be traced all the back to the 1760s where two students shot and killed a teacher and about 10 other kids. Some of the most famous or well-known school shootings in the US are the Columbine shooting of 1999 and the Sandy Hook shooting of 2012. The gun-free school zones act that was passed in the 90s was done so to help prevent gun violence in schools. With that law came zero-tolerance policies implicated in schools along with the school to prison pipeline.

What is the school to prison pipeline? The school to prison pipeline refers to how students in school are arrested and taken to into custody of the police officers. Most of these offenses committed in the classrooms would not be criminal offences outside of them meaning what children on the prison to school pipeline are detained for is not always illegal. When zero-tolerance policies are upheld in the school district, students are more likely to be suspended, expelled, and arrested. The gun-free school zones act resulted in police officers being planted inside and outside of schools to protect students from harm and to be there when called for help with disruptive students.

Who is affected by the school prison pipeline? The people most affected by the school to Prison pipeline are the students who are taken into police custody and their classmates whether those affects be positive or negative. The zero-tolerance policies in schools have helped to crack down on those who bring guns into school zones by putting school resource officers (SROs) in the schools. Early in 2020, a boy who attended Lake Weir High School in Florida was found by an officer to have a gun in his backpack, he was then taken into police custody. Schools have been using the zero-tolerance police to help put a stop to violent and disruptive behaviors in class but what counts as disruptive and violent behavior has changed over the years.

Where is the problem generally found in the school to Prison pipeline? Some concerns with the school to prison pipeline are that minority students such as black kids and those with disabilities are more likely to be treated differently in this system. According to Nancy Skinner from Edsource, black students are more likely to be suspended from schools than white students are which makes them less likely to make it to graduation and more likely to be arrested. Kids with autism in school have a history of being misunderstood and perceived as “violent” when they cannot understand situations or control their behavior. In October 2020, a 7-year-old boy was arrested at his school when the officers were called on him because he was spitting in class. It was reported that on that day the boy had been agitated from his classmates walking to and from his class. When the officer arrived, they boy was handcuffed and held down for about 40 minutes. There is a video showing the boy crying out in pain from being restrained. The mother later responded to the officer with anger questioning why any special needs child should be charged with assault.

What are the arguments against the school to prison pipeline theory? The discrimination described above is one of them. Some believe that keeping school resource officers in schools is negatively affecting students and making them more likely to end up in the juvenile system or become high school dropouts. According to Vox, A study in Texas showed that students who were expelled or suspended were had their chances of dropping out of school doubled and are triple times as likely to end up in the juvenile system. 

What are the arguments that support the School to Prison pipeline Theory? Many argue that we need to keep school resource officers in schools for all of the student’s safety. Dan Rubinstein from social sciences stated that students in the five schools that they have studied have claimed that SRO presence makes them feel safe from harm and bullying. Since SROs were placed into the school to protect students from gun violence, many argue that they need to stay in schools or school shootings and student misconduct will increase.

Do I agree with the school to prison pipeline? Yes. I think that SROs are necessary in schools to keep students safe from bullying, gun violence, and other violent misconducts that occur between students. I think that there is a big flaw in the system because many arrests I consider having been unnecessary and the schools have gone about it the wrong way. It seems like the reasons for kids to be arrested have become too broad. I think that with the case of the autistic boy, SRO interference was not necessary and it could have been handled by the kid’s teachers and parents. I have heard of many instances similar to those and I have witnessed a scenario where security was necessary because one of my classmates was threatening another. The teacher would not have been able to handle that situation on her own. The school to prison pipeline is needed but it needs to be adjusted with the consideration of those that it has negatively affected in mind.

Works Cited

• Hamlin, James. “MCSO: Gun found in Lake Weir High School student's backpack” 20WCJBABC, 5 Feb 2020, https://www.wcjb.com/content/news/MCSO-Lake-Weir-High-School-student-brought-gun-to-school-567584641.html.
• Skinner, Nancy. “We Must Disrupt the School-to-Prison Pipeline.” Edsource, 13 Aug 2019, https://edsource.org/2019/we-must-disrupt-the-school-to-prison-pipeline/616234.
• Steadman, Christy. “Additional Cañon City Police Officers adopt schools for safety.” Canon City Daily Record, 9 Nov 2013, https://www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/2013/11/09/additional-caon-city-police-officers-adopt-schools-for-safety/#comments.