Browsing by Author "Marchbanks, Miner"

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Assessing the Role of Immigration in the Linkage between School Safety, Education, and Juvenile Justice Contact
Public Policy Research Institute; TAMU; https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14641/571; Department of Justice
In the aftermath of fatal mass school shootings, national calls and policies to ensure healthy and safe learning environments for students have heightened expectations to address violence and disorder within schools (Addington, 2009; Muschert & Peguero, 2010; Na & Gottfredson, 2011). Although for the most part schools in the United States (US) are safe places for students, it is evident that disorder, violence, and victimization rates are not equally occurring across schools (Robers et al., 2015). Immigrant youth from culturally, linguistically, and racially/ethnically diverse backgrounds are more likely to attend disadvantaged and disorderly schools, be victimized, and disproportionately surveilled and punished (Kozol, 2012, Rios, 2011; Shedd, 2015). Exposure to violence and inequitable, harsh, and punitive school practices creates additional educational hurdles and barriers for immigrant youth and compromise their feelings of school belonging and perceptions of school safety. Safety is paramount for learning and educational outcomes for all youth. There is some question, if a “one-size fits all” approach towards making schools safe can be fully realized without considering the distinct vulnerabilities immigrant youth face in the US school system. According to the US Department of Education (2015), there are approximately 840,000 immigrant students and more than 4.6 million English language learners (ELL) in the US public educational system and these numbers are expected to growth astronomically by 2050. There is a wide array of socio-demographic factors (e.g., socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, nationality; English language proficiency) and educational policies that contribute to the disparate and marginalizing experiences immigrant youth endure at school (Gonzales, 2015; Peguero, 2009, 2011, 2012a,b, 2013; Peguero & Bondy, 2011, 2015; Portes & Rumbaut, 2014). Thus, with the growth of immigrant youth in US schools, any effort to address school violence and implement of school safety policies must consider the challenges associated with immigrant youth’s schooling, violence, and safety experiences. The purpose of this proposal is to examine the role of immigration in the linkages between school safety, education, and juvenile justice contact. To date the general practice of making schools “safer” involves imposing harsh or “zero tolerance” school punishment practices to even minor forms of misbehavior (Kupchik, 2010; Muschert & Peguero, 2010; Rios, 2011). Some debate has ensued that strict school discipline practices have fostered a school-to-prison pipeline process in which stringent school policies, such as detentions, suspensions, and expulsions, steer youth out of schools and increase their likelihood of contact with the juvenile or adult justice systems, especially minority youth (Kim, et al., 2012; Rios, 2011; Rocque & Paternoster, 2011). Although the school-to-prison pipeline denotes a direct link between school discipline and adult incarceration, there are arguably a number of pathways, including educational failure, that could facilitate disproportionate criminal justice contact for disciplined youth (May, 2014; May et al., 2016; Rios, 2011; Rocque & Paternoster, 2011). What remains unknown, however, is if strict school discipline practices are addressing violence and ensuring safety or contributing to the marginalization and derailment of educational progress of immigrant youth.