Corrected: This item incorrectly identified the organization that released the “Education on Lockdown” report. It was the Advancement Project.
Schools that employ strict zero-tolerance disciplinary policies may be pushing more and more students into the juvenile-justice system, says a report from the Advancement Partnership, a legal-action organization based in Washington that seeks to improve universal opportunity and democracy.
“Education on Lockdown: The Schoolhouse to Jailhouse Track,” is posted online by the Advancement Project. ()
The report reviews schools in Denver, Chicago, and Palm Beach County, Fla. It contends that schools are overreacting to rare incidents of serious school violence and are calling on law enforcement to deal with minor infractions that could be better handled by parents.
In the 72,000-student Denver district, for example, the study found that between 2000 and 2004, student referrals to law enforcement increased by 71 percent. Yet most of the incidents leading to that action were nonviolent.