The school-to-prison pipeline describes school policies and practices that push students, especially Black, Latino, Native and disabled students, out of classrooms and into the juvenile and criminal legal systems. It works through suspensions, expulsions, school police and arrests for behavior once handled by teachers and principals.
The pipeline grew in the 1990s. The Gun-Free Schools Act of 1994 required states receiving federal funds to expel students for at least one year for bringing a firearm to school. Many districts expanded zero tolerance rules to cover lesser offenses like fighting, defiance or dress code violations. Schools also added police officers, often called school resource officers, so routine discipline more often became an arrest.
The effects fall unevenly. In the 2017-18 school year, Black students made up 15.1% of enrollment but 31.6% of students arrested at school, according to federal Civil Rights Data Collection figures. Research shows that suspension raises the chance a student will drop out and become involved with the justice system. Alternatives include restorative justice programs, removing police from schools, and funding counselors, nurses and social workers. ARD focuses on these policy choices because they are made by school boards and legislatures.