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Trends in School Social Control in the United States: Explaining Patterns of Decriminalization

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The Palgrave International Handbook of School Discipline, Surveillance, and Social Control

Abstract

For over two decades, American schools across the socioeconomic spectrum pursued policies and practices (e.g. zero tolerance, school-based arrests, and court referrals) labelled the criminalization of school discipline. Since 2011, however, a wave of local, state, and federal reforms resulted in marked declines in exclusionary punishments, curbs on police and court involvement in school discipline, and an expansion of therapeutic and restorative responses to student misbehaviour. Although reforms are often initiated at the local level, they drew support and momentum from the federally led shift towards graduation rates and equitable disciplinary practices as ‘school performance’ criteria and the expansion of health insurance eligibility. In addition, school decriminalization is increasingly seen as a vital means of resisting ‘mass incarceration’. Tying school decriminalization to federal policy priorities limits its long-term prospects.

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  1. Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

    Paul J. Hirschfield

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  1. School of Law, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom

    Jo Deakin

  2. Department of Sociology, City, University of London, London, United Kingdom

    Emmeline Taylor

  3. Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, University of Delaware, Newark, USA

    Aaron Kupchik

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Hirschfield, P.J. (2018). Trends in School Social Control in the United States: Explaining Patterns of Decriminalization. In: Deakin, J., Taylor, E., Kupchik, A. (eds) The Palgrave International Handbook of School Discipline, Surveillance, and Social Control. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71559-9_3

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