Chicago: Overview

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) has become infamous for its harsh zero tolerance policies. Although there is no verified positive impact on safety, these policies have resulted in tens of thousands of student suspensions and an exorbitant number of expulsions.

The trend in Chicago has been difficult to document, largely because of the school district’s refusal to provide data to advocates. Where data has been published, it is often conflicting or inexplicable. However, even by its own numbers, CPS has aggressively ignited a schoolhouse-to-jailhouse track that is ravaging this generation of youths. CPS’s failure to provide reliable school discipline data, however, gives rise to concern that the impact of this track may be even more alarming than it appears.

It is particularly disturbing that the criminalization of Chicago students occurs even where the conduct does not rise to the level of a typical crime but is instead worthy of only school-based sanctions. For many of these students the adverse impact is felt regardless of whether the case is dismissed due to lack of evidence or seriousness. In the final analysis, it appears that while law enforcement and the juvenile court system often work to spare youths from the devastation of this track, CPS is working at odds with these stakeholders—aggressively suspending, expelling, and insisting on the arrest of youths regardless of fundamental principles of proportionality and necessity.