{"id":46717,"date":"2022-02-15T18:18:22","date_gmt":"2022-02-15T23:18:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/race-and-inequality-education-school-prison-pipeline"},"modified":"2025-06-17T17:08:04","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T21:08:04","slug":"school-prison-pipeline","status":"publish","type":"issue","link":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/racial-justice\/school-prison-pipeline","title":{"rendered":"School-to-Prison Pipeline"},"parent":46673,"menu_order":1,"template":"","class_list":["post-46717","issue","type-issue","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"featured-image":210880,"intro":"The ACLU is committed to challenging the \u201cschool-to-prison pipeline,\u201d a disturbing national trend wherein children, particularly Black and Brown students and students with disabilities, are funneled out of public schools and into the juvenile and criminal legal systems.","what-you-need-to-know":[{"highlighted":"2X","description":"Students of color and students with disabilities are nationally two times more likely to be referred to police and arrested in schools than other students."},{"highlighted":"28.7%","description":"In 2017-18, Black students accounted for 28.7 percent of all students referred to law enforcement and 31.6 percent of all students arrested at school or during a school-related activity \u2014 twice their share of total student enrollment of 15.1 percent. "},{"highlighted":"55%","description":"In 2017-18, 55 percent percent of high school students attended school with police presence, while. only 40 percent of high school students attended school with school social worker."}],"promo":{"description":"","button":"","url":""},"faq":{"description":"","faq-items":[{"title":"What is the school-to-prison pipeline?","content":"The school-to-prison pipeline refers to school discipline practices, such as suspensions and referrals to law enforcement, that funnel youth out of public education and into the juvenile and criminal legal systems. This trend reflects our country\u2019s prioritization of incarceration over education, and it's made worse as resources for public schools are decreased. From inadequate resources for counseling to an overreliance on school-based police officers<\/a> to enforce harsh zero-tolerance policies, many students \u2014 overwhelmingly students of color and students with disabilities \u2014 are isolated, punished, and pushed out of our education system for adolescent mistakes."},{"title":"How does law enforcement in schools perpetuate harm?","content":"Having law enforcement<\/a> in schools creates more hostile environments. When students perceive their schools to be hostile, they are less likely to be engaged in school and, in turn, demonstrate reduced achievement. The presence of sworn law enforcement is also associated with increases in student arrests for low-level incidents. Schools employing school police see increases in student offenses and school-based arrests by as much as 400 percent. In a recent survey of 400 school resource officers, one out of three officers reported that their school does not specify the types of disciplinary issues that they can intervene in. This lack of accountability and clarity results in an inappropriate use of force for minor misbehaviors and harm to students. The tools of law enforcement, unlike the tools of school-based mental health providers, include pepper spray, handcuffs, tasers, and guns, and are ill-suited to the classroom."}]},"featured-stories":[{"image":42440,"title":"Safe and Healthy Schools Lead With Support, Not Police","content-type":"news_and_commentary","last-updated":null,"description":"To support our students, Congress must pass the Counseling Not Criminalization in Schools Act.","url":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/news\/disability-rights\/safe-and-healthy-schools-lead-with-support-not-police"}],"latest-stories":[{"image":136515,"title":"Cops and No Counselors","type":"report","url":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/report\/cops-and-no-counselors"},{"image":6859,"title":"As Awareness of the School-to-Prison Pipeline Rises, Some Schools Rethink the Role of Police","type":"news_and_commentary","url":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/news\/racial-justice\/awareness-school-prison-pipeline-rises-some"},{"image":33722,"title":"Police in Schools Continue to Target Black, Brown, and Indigenous Students with Disabilities. The Trump Administration Has Data That\u2019s Likely to Prove It.","type":"news_and_commentary","url":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/news\/criminal-law-reform\/police-in-schools-continue-to-target-black-brown-and-indigenous-students-with-disabilities-the-trump-administration-has-data-thats-likely-to-prove-it"}],"whats-at-stake":{"title":"What's at Stake","description":"The ACLU\u2019s education work centers on a disturbing trend called the school-to-prison pipeline, a set of policies in our nation\u2019s public schools that pushes an alarming number of kids into the juvenile and criminal legal systems when they most need support from their schools and communities. From inadequate counseling to reliance on school-based police officers, to harsh zero-tolerance policies, many students, overwhelmingly students of color and students with disabilities, are punished, criminalized, and pushed away from positive supports and opportunities to learn and achieve.\r\n\r\nIn some jurisdictions, students who have been suspended or expelled have no right to an education at all. In others, they are sent to disciplinary alternative schools.\r\n\r\nYouth who become involved in the juvenile justice system are often denied procedural protections in the courts, and students pushed along the pipeline find themselves in juvenile detention facilities, many of which provide few, if any, educational services.\r\n\r\nThrough strategic litigation and advocacy campaigns, the ACLU Racial Justice Program works to promote initiatives that help ensure access to high-quality education and facilities for all students and to challenge policies that criminalize students in school."},"actions":"","drupal-id":249,"is_hidden_issue":""},"yoast_head":"\nAmerican Civil Liberties Union<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The ACLU is committed to challenging the \u201cschool-to-prison pipeline,\u201d a disturbing national trend wherein children, particularly Black and Brown students and students with disabilities, are funneled out of public schools and into the juvenile and criminal legal systems.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"School-to-Prison Pipeline | American Civil Liberties Union\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The ACLU is committed to challenging the \u201cschool-to-prison pipeline,\u201d a disturbing national trend wherein children, particularly Black and Brown students and students with disabilities, are funneled out of public schools and into the juvenile and criminal legal systems.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/racial-justice\/school-prison-pipeline\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Civil Liberties Union\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-17T21:08:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@aclu\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/racial-justice\/school-prison-pipeline\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/racial-justice\/school-prison-pipeline\",\"name\":\"School-to-Prison Pipeline | American Civil Liberties Union\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-15T23:18:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-17T21:08:04+00:00\",\"description\":\"The ACLU is committed to challenging the \u201cschool-to-prison pipeline,\u201d a disturbing national trend wherein children, particularly Black and Brown students and students with disabilities, are funneled out of public schools and into the juvenile and criminal legal systems.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/racial-justice\/school-prison-pipeline\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/\",\"name\":\"American Civil Liberties Union\",\"description\":\"The ACLU dares to create a more perfect union \u2014 beyond one person, party, or side. 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