A federal civil rights lawsuit was
filed against a Mississippi school district for operating a “school-to-prison
pipeline.” The suit claims that district
officials are jailing students’ days at a time for minor infractions without a
probable cause hearing. The suit further
claims that students’ are arrested in school, handcuffed and sent to a youth
court and denied their constitutional rights for minor infractions. Infractions such as talking back to teachers or
violating the dress code have students’ being transported 80 miles to a youth
detention center in another county[i].
With the majority of student
offenders being African-American and students with disabilities, many of the
students are placed on probation for these minor infractions. Being placed on probation for infractions
such as wearing the wrong color socks or undershirt, tardiness, use of vulgar
language and yelling at the teacher is a harsh penalty for such an insignificant
offense. What is even more concerning is
that harsher penalties can be placed on these students for future school
violations. A violation in school could
lead to a probation violation and possible incarceration in a juvenile
detention center[ii].
While there are some who would claim
that what occurred in the district was a result of Zero Tolerance policies,
those claims would be false. Zero
Tolerance policies were not intended to place students’ in the juvenile justice
system for minor infractions. Zero
Tolerance policies were intended to curb major violations (drugs, weapons, etc)
that affected school climate by removing student offenders through
expulsion. What has allegedly occurred
in the school district in Mississippi appears to be an intentional attempt to criminalize
African-American students.
The filing of the federal lawsuit
stated that incarceration was used as a “medium for school discipline.” The filing also claimed the district made
children wait more than 48 hours for a hearing and made students to admit to
formal charges without first being advised of their Miranda rights[iii].
Schools are not supposed to be in
the business of criminalizing behaviors that are minor in nature. Any district that would do so, demonstrates
that it does not have the best interest of children. In a state that traditionally
ranks among the poorest economically and educationally, to consider minor
behaviors as criminal demonstrates the school district does not understand (or
cares not to understand) the circumstances of its students. To assume that wearing the wrong colors socks
or shirt, coming late to school, using vulgar language, or yelling at the
teacher is a justifiable reason to be arrested, incarcerated, given a record, and
placed on probation demonstrates that district officials and school staff view
students with a negative, punitive lens. Instead, the lens should view these minor
infractions in the contexts surrounding the lives of students’.
Being a state with one of the
highest poverty rates in the country, consideration should be given to
students’ who are late due to having to wake up, clothe, feed, and take a
younger sibling to school. Consideration
should be given to students’ who may wear the wrong color shirt or socks due to
not having the money to wash their school clothes. Finally, consideration should be given to
students’ who yell at the teacher because there is trauma in the home. Students’ come to school upset having
internalized their anger to the point where they yell at a teacher. This is not criminal behavior; this is the
reality of life for many students’ who are affected by circumstances beyond
their control. The district should be
finding ways to support its students’ not create criminals.
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