The Council of State Governments Justice Center (CSG Justice Center) recently convened the second round of multidisciplinary advisory groups for its School Discipline Consensus Project. Nearly 100 experts from such fields as school safety, behavioral health, education, juvenile justice, law enforcement, and child welfare have come together with youth, parents, and community partners to begin developing consensus-based recommendations to minimize the use of suspension and expulsion, improve students’ academic outcomes, reduce their involvement in the juvenile justice system, and promote safe and productive learning environments. Among the many issues being addressed is facilitating the reentry of youth from juvenile facilities back into public school classrooms and providing them with supports to prevent their recidivism.
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School Discipline Consensus Project
Millions of public school students are suspended or expelled each year, particularly youth of color and those with special needs. When students are suspended or expelled, they are more likely to have poor academic outcomes and to become involved in the juvenile justice system. -
Breaking Schools’ Rules
Research Overview The CSG Justice Center, in partnership with the Public Policy Research Institute at Texas A&M University, has released an unprecedented statewide study of nearly 1 million Texas public secondary school students, followed for at least six years.
School Discipline Consensus Project
Millions of public school students are suspended or expelled each year, particularly youth of color and those with special needs. When students are suspended or expelled, they are more likely to have poor academic outcomes and to become involved in the juvenile justice system.
Announcements
Legislative Affairs
Council of State Governments Justice Center Executive Director Submits Testimony to Senate Subcommittee
On December 12, 2012,The CSG Justice Center Executive Director, Michael Thompson, submitted testimony to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights for its hearing on the school-to-prison pipeline.
Webinars
Engaging and Involving Families of Justice-Involved Youth
This webinar, presented by the CSG Justice Center, features practical approaches to increasing and improving family engagement and involvement in the juvenile justice system. With support from the MacArthur Foundation, the National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice has [...]
Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP) 2012 Technical Assistance Orientation Webinar
This webinar will provide an overview of the kinds of technical assistance that will be available to 2012 Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program grantees and how they can take advantage of these resources. Grantees will have the opportunity to [...]
Webinar: Best Practices in Behavioral Health Treatment for Juveniles Returning from Out-of-Home Placement, National Reentry Resource Center
This webinar, held on May 7, 2012, focussed on both identifying behavioral needs and delivering treatment based on best practices while the youth is in placement. Speaker discussed the use of risk and needs assessments and the need to properly [...]
Webinar Archive: Implementing Juvenile Diversion Programs: Guideline and Innovative Approaches
This webinar explored successful practices for directing youth with mental health disorders, including those with co-occurring substance dependence, to treatment.
Webinar Archive: Child Trauma and Juvenile Justice: Prevalence, Impact and Treatment
This webinar reviewed the prevalence, impact, and treatment of trauma for youth involved in the juvenile justice system.
publications
Out of School & Off Track: The Overuse of Suspensions in American Middle and High Schools
This report, published by the Civil Rights Project’s Center for Civil Rights Remedies, examines data from more than 26,000 U.S. secondary schools and concludes that more than two million students were suspended during the 2009-2010 academic year, with the overwhelming [...]
Juvenile Justice Reform in Connecticut: How Collaboration and Commitment Have Improved Public Safety and Outcomes for Youth
This Justice Policy Institute report highlights the past two decades of Connecticut’s successful efforts to improve responses to youth who engage in delinquent behavior and to reduce the number of youth placed in detention centers, correctional training schools, and other [...]
Common Ground: Lessons Learned from Five States that Reduced Juvenile Confinement by More than Half
This Justice Policy Institute report explores the drivers of youth prison population reductions in Connecticut, Louisiana, Tennessee, Arizona, and Minnesota. State-specific strategies are discussed, as are common reform activities that have proven to be successful. To download this report, click [...]
Reducing Youth Incarceration in the United States
In this KIDS COUNT data snapshot, the Annie E. Casey Foundation finds that the incarceration rate of young people dropped more than 40 percent over a 15-year period, with no decrease in public safety. The publication also recommends ways to [...]
Report of the Attorney General’s National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence
This report is the final report and policy recommendations generated by Attorney General Eric Holder’s Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence. The task force report includes 56 recommendations and highlights the importance of identifying children who are victims or [...]
Recent headlines
Schools seek remedies to racial suspension gap
The Twin Cities Daily Planet by Charles Hallman Black students nationwide are suspended at least twice more frequently than any other student group and up to three times more often in many Twin Cities metro area urban and suburban school [...]
School Discipline Changes Urged In Federal Complaint Against Dallas Truancy System
The Huffington Post by Joy Resmovits Ashley Brown, a Dallas high school sophomore, missed four days of school after her grandmother died. Shortly after that, a teacher taking roll missed the short-statured student and accidentally marked Brown absent. Then Brown [...]
Zero Tolerance Discipline Policies: A Failing Idea
The Skanner by Marian Wright Edelman, NNPA Columnist Many school children in America are on summer break right now, but here’s a pop quiz about discipline policies in our nation’s schools that’s just for grownups: Would you suspend a student [...]
ACLU: Blacks, Hispanics suspended more often in Rhode Island
The Berkshire Eagle By the Associated Press PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Black and Hispanic students are much more likely than white students to be punished with an out-of-school suspension at Rhode Island public schools, according to a report released Wednesday [...]
The Epidemic That’s Threatening Our Future. And How Los Angeles Unified School District Is Determined to Reverse It.
The Huffington Post by Robert Ross, President and CEO, The California Endowment Co-authored by Steven Zimmer and Mónica García, Los Angeles Unified School District Board and Dr. Robert K. Ross, President and CEO, The California Endowment The first time Damien [...]