Children who are suspended, expelled, or arrested are more likely to repeat a grade, eventually dropout of school, enter the juvenile justice system and end up in prison, according to a new government report.
“Even one court appearance during high school increases a child’s likelihood of dropping out of school,” according to Ending the School-to-Prison Pipeline.
For six years, nearly one million seventh-grade Texans were tracked to verify the outcome of the Department of Justice study. Almost two-thirds of the students were taken out of classrooms at least once because of state-mandated laws, according to the study.
School officials took discretionary action against African-Americans more than whites and Hispanics, the study reported disabled students were “dis-proportionably disciplined.”
“Suspension or expulsion of a student for a discretionary violation nearly tripled the likelihood of juvenile justice contact within the subsequent academic year,” the study shows. Arrest, detention and involvement with the juvenile justice system have “negative short-term and long-term consequences for children’s mental and physical health, education success, and future employment opportunities.”
The detrimental effect of court appearance were especially damaging to “children with no or minimal prior history of delinquency,” the study says.
Failure to complete high school translates to “higher unemployment, poorer health, substance abuse, shorter lifespan, lower earning and increased future contact with the criminal justice system,” the study concludes.
