The purpose of this study is to conduct a meta-analytic assessment of the effects of disciplinary alternative program (DAP) placement on student outcomes, including disciplinary sanctions, academic performance, and truancy. A total of 14 eligible studies were identified in peer-reviewed and grey literature, producing a total of 62 effect sizes.…

Rather than mitigating behavioral issues, exclusionary school disciplinary practices can actually increase student misbehavior and school dropout. However, the impact these sanctions have on students may vary based on school climate, particularly whether the environment is inclusive or punitive. Relying on a sample of over 2,000 students within 26…

This study evaluated the efficacy of School-Based Teen Courts (SBTCs) using a rigorous experimental trial with 24 middle- and high-schools randomly selected to receive SBTCs (n= 12) or to business-as-usual without any SBTC program (n = 12). Analyses examined school-level longitudinal growth models and individual-level pretest-posttest comparisons…

This study investigates the effect of the threat of legal sanctions on intentions to commit three types of offenses with a representative sample of 744 officially adjudicated youth with varying histories of offenses and gang involvement. In a departure from previous research, the authors find small severity effects for property crimes that are not…

These data merge correctional histories with official state and courthouse information for a sample of teenage offenders, some of whom had been transferred to the adult system. Previous research indicated that transfer aggravates recidivism after the age of 18. The correctional data allow the examination of the relationship between sanctions and…

Judicial sanctions are used by drug courts to encourage clients to comply with program requirements. However, few studies have explored the application of sanctions in drug courts or the relationship between sanctions and drug court graduation. This article reports the results of a study of sanctions as applied in a drug court in southwest…

One frequently held assumption found within the school discipline literature suggests that students of color- particularly African American, male, low-income populations- are at an increased risk of receiving exclusionary discipline sanctions. Aside from race, gender, and socioeconomic status; however, less is known about other factors that…

The current study modeled trajectories of substance use from ages 15 to 20 among 1,095 male serious juvenile offenders (M age = 16.54; 42% African-American, 34% Latino, 20% European-American, and 4% other ethnic/racial backgrounds) and prospectively predicted trajectories from risk and protective factors before and after controlling for time spent…

This study is an examination of persistent offending and its implications for the understanding and investigation of desistance and career length. Persistence, especially as it is operationalized using official measures, is characterized as fundamentally a measure of resistance to formal social control: continued crime in the face of increasingly…

An effective program to cope with student misbehavior should include a range of sanctions. Proposes that the juvenile justice system and school districts work together to develop an intermediate punishment of coerced community service for serious disciplinary infractions. (MLF)

As is the case in most K-12 schools, male students, in comparison to their female counterparts, disproportionately violate policies and are sanctioned more often for violence and disruptive behaviors on college and university campuses across the country. A theoretical model to explain this phenomenon is proposed in this article. Specifically, a…