Scholars have long been interested in the relationship between school punishment and real or perceived criminalization, popularly known as the school-to-prison pipeline. This work emphasizes exclusionary punishments, like out-of-school suspension and expulsion, and focuses on the students of color and/or low-income students who are at a greater risk for these punishments. Less is known about the broader universe of school punishments and its impact outside of the criminal justice system. Given the shifting climate of school punishment in which zero-tolerance policies and the exclusionary punishments they often mandate are declining, it is important to understand how school punishment in all its forms functions for young people today. To address this larger question, this dissertation uses original survey data from a contemporary sample of college-associated young adults to answer two sets of questions. In Study 1, I consider school punishment as an agent of broader legal socialization by examining how a variety of school punishments during primary and secondary schooling impact attitudes towards police in young adulthood. I consider how these effects may be different from punishment outside the school context, such as the family, and if these effects operate through a general belief in obedience to authority. In Study 2, I examine open-ended survey responses to ask more generally how young adults make sense of prior school punishment and the extent to which the punishments they experienced fall easily into existing conceptualizations of exclusionary versus not. In addressing these questions, this dissertation aims to further uncover the broader implications of school punishment, and through what mechanisms might we see these lasting effects. I argue that the reach of school punishment extends even to relatively privileged groups of young adults and even in a context of a nationwide decline of punitive school discipline. Further, I argue that existing conceptualizations of school punishment need to be expanded to consider the multitude of punishments young people experience and their impact on their lives. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]