The increasing criminalization of children – regardless of age, maturity and intent to commit crimes – is clearly distressing. In effect, the juvenile justice system has become a secondary disciplinary arm of many public school systems, leaving students with both the emotional scars of having been treated like criminals and the consequences of having a “record.”
For the past year, community groups in Denver, Chicago, and Palm Beach County have been collecting data and anecdotes about the “schoolhouse to jailhouse track.” In order to gain a better understanding of zero tolerance school discipline issues school and police officials, public defenders and legal services lawyers were interviewed. This information has been compiled in a report: Education on Lockdown: The Schoolhouse to Jailhouse Track
The goals of this campaign are to document and expose the schoolhouse to jailhouse track and to develop and implement policy changes on the local level that will serve as models for other communities.
