The social movement for #PoliceFreeSchools (and the adjacent campaign on college and university campuses called #PoliceFreeCampuses) welcomes an opportunity to reimagine school discipline and safety in contradistinction to current carceral forms. Scholars have moved away from notions of "school to prison pipeline" by demonstrating the…

Increased attention has been given the safety of students and school staff members following highly publicized acts of violence within schools, including the mass shootings at Robb Elementary School in 2022, Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, and Columbine High School in 1999. In response to these tragic events, schools have implemented various…

Ryan Gainer, a 15-year-old African-American youth on the Autism-spectrum, was shot and killed by police officers in March 2024. The authors reflect on the tragedy of this incident and the harms that such police actions inflict on people living with disabilities and/or mental illnesses, as well as on their families, loved ones, and communities.…

This article examines police brutality and the militarization of Black and Brown communities in the United States. Specifically, we explored African Americans' experiences with the criminal justice system by tracing the school to prison pipeline. It will document policies and practices that have historically contributed to the criminalization of…

It is a tragic irony that George Floyd Jr., once a brilliant Black boy with dreams to serve on the highest court in the U.S., would grow up to be murdered by a white law enforcement officer who pressed his knee needlessly against Floyd's neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. What did young George Floyd learn about the justice system? What do young…

In this paper, we present a thought piece examining recent core policing reforms introduced in the Republic of Ireland (ROI), responding to a perceived crisis of legitimacy, for An Garda Síochána (AGS) (translated: 'The Guardian of the Peace'). Central to this process is the critical reform of the education and training of police and their…

The use of law enforcement in schools raises concerns about impacts on school discipline. Drawing on a large-scale qualitative study of approximately fifty schools across two school districts, this study explores school resource officers' (SROs') involvement in school discipline and how it is shaped by their context. We use interview, focus group,…

This technical brief is part of an ongoing series the Center for Learner Equity (CLE) launched in 2015 that examines the enrollment and experiences of students with disabilities in different school settings. Using the 2017-2018 CRDC data released earlier this year, this brief focuses on school discipline and the engagement of law enforcement in…

Recent headlines describing the national drop in public school enrollment suggest that this is a shocking crisis brought on or worsened by the pandemic. However, Abbie Cohen argues that the current enrollment decline should not be a surprise. The underlying causes have festered for decades. Among these causes is the tension between the different…

In response to inquiries about the roles of School Resource Officers (SROs), the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) conducted a review of the SRO program using data from several sources: SRO referral and incident data; a survey of WCPSS students, staff, and members of the community; and data from focus groups. Two major themes emerged from…

In recent years, some school districts across Allegheny County have made noteworthy changes to school policing. While some districts have sought to reduce or eliminate reliance on police, a growing number of other districts in the county have, with community support announced expanded police presence and in some cases have decided to arm police.…

This paper aims to elaborate on the use of Six Sigma and Kaizen in policing services. Two case examples are discussed, followed by a review of the key implications obtained from the projects. In optimising the quality of policing services to the community, the police agencies in the UAE are faced with numerous challenges. This paper aims to…

Complex social scientific theories are conventionally tested using linear structural equation modeling (SEM). However, the underlying assumptions of linear SEM often prove unrealistic, making the decomposition of direct and indirect effects problematic. Recent advancements in causal mediation analysis can help to address these shortcomings,…

Primarily drawing from the works of Edin and Shaefer (2016) and Eubanks (2017), this essay uses their descriptions of the realities of people living in poverty as well as the structural and technological fortifications that are used to sort and confine them to a status of second-class citizen to show that poverty is a condition that limits the…

We consider two local reparations cases--the Evanston Restorative Housing Program and Chicago reparations for police torture survivors. We argue that the programs are shaped by the differing political opportunities, the local context, and the social location of their advocates given that one was constructed within government systems in Evanston…