Understanding the antecedents of the "school-to-jail" link: The relationship between race and school discipline

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

Volumn 101, Issue 2, 2011, Pages 633-665

  Rocque, Michael ^a   Paternoster, Raymond ^b  

^a NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 84857572445     PISSN: 00914169     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (46)

1. See JAY R. CAMPBELL ET AL., U.S. DEPT OF EDUC., TRENDS IN ACADEMIC PROGRESS: THREE DECADES OF STUDENT PERFORMANCE (2000), available at http://nces.ed.gov/naep/pdf/main1999/2000469.pdf; Adam Gamoran, American Schooling and Educational Inequality: A Forecast for the 21st Century, 34 SOC. EDUC. 135 (2001); Larry V. Hedges & Amy Nowell, Changes in the Black-White Gap in Achievement Test Scores, 72 SOC. EDUC. 111 (1999); Roslyn Arlin Mickelson, Subverting Swann: First-and Second-Generation Segregation in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, 38 AM. EDUC. RES. J. 215 (2001); Roslyn Arlin Mickelson, When Are Racial Disparities in Education the Result of Racial Discrimination? A Social Science Perspective, 105 TCHRS. C. REC. 1052 (2003); James M. Patton, The Disproportionate Representation of African Americans in Special Education: Looking Behind the Curtain for Understanding and Solutions, 32 J. SPECIAL EDUC. 25 (1998).
2. Michael J. Leiber, Disproportionate Minority Confinement (DMC) of Youth: An Analysis of State and Federal Efforts to Address the Issue, 48 CRIME & DELINQ. 3 (2001).
3. Lance Lochner & Enrico Moretti, The Effect of Education on Crime: Evidence from Prison Inmates, Arrests, and Self-Reports, 94 AM. ECON. REV. 155, 183 (2004).
4. The magnitude of the relationship between education and crime, moreover, may not be trivial. Lochner and Moretti estimated that a one percent increase in the high school completion rate for men would save as much as $1.4 billion annually in reduced costs from crime for society. at 183-84. This social saving is above and beyond any private benefit accruing to individuals from greater educational attainment. See generally Spencer Holland, PROJECT 2000: An Educational Mentoring and Academic Support Model for Inner-City African American Boys, 65 J. NEGRO EDUC. 315 (1996); Lance Lochner, Education, Work, and Crime: A Human Capital Approach, 45 INT'L ECON. REV. 811 (2004); Antonio Merlo & Kenneth I. Wolpin, The Transition from School to Jail: Youth Crime and High School Completion Among Black Males (Penn. Inst. Econ. Res., Paper No. 08-033), available at http://pier.econ.upenn.edu/.
5. See CATHERINE Y. KIM ET AL., THE SCHOOL-TO-PRISON PIPELINE: STRUCTURING LEGAL REFORM (2010); Kelly Welch & Allison Ann Payne, Racial Threat and Punitive School Discipline, 57 SOC. PROBS. 25 (2010).
6. Oscar A. Barbarin et al., Family Practices and School Performance of African American Children, in AFRICAN AMERICAN FAMILY LIFE: ECOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY 227, 238 (Vonnie C. McLoyd et al. eds., 2005); Rebecca Donovan, Path Analysis of a Theoretical Model of Persistence in Higher Education Among Low-Income Black Youth, 21 RES. HIGHER EDUC. 243 (1984); Timothy Z. Keith & Mark J. Benson, Effects of Manipulable Influences on High School Grades Across Five Ethnic Groups, 86 J. EDUC. RES. 85 (1992).
7. See ELIJAH ANDERSON, CODE OF THE STREET: DECENCY, VIOLENCE, AND THE MORAL LIFE OF THE INNER CITY (1999); Signithia Fordham & John U. Ogbu, Black Students' School Success: Coping with the 'Burden of Acting White,' 18 URB. REV. 176 (1986).
8. Brenda L. Townsend, The Disproportionate Discipline of African American Learners: Reducing School Suspensions and Expulsions, 66 EXCEPTIONAL CHILD. 381, 382-83 (2000).
9. ANN ARNETT FERGUSON, BAD BOYS: PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN THE MAKING OF BLACK MASCULINITY 2 (2000) (emphasis added).
10. See generally Claude Steele, A Threat in the Air: How Stereotypes Shape Intellectual Identity and Performance, 52 AM. PSYCHOL. 613 (1997).
11. Claude Steele & Joshua Aronson, Stereotype Threat and the Intellectual Test Performance of African Americans, 69 J. PERSONALITY & SOC. PSYCHOL. 797 (1995).
12. See generally Charles R. Lawrence III, The Id, the Ego, and Equal Protection: Reckoning with Unconscious Racism, 19 STAN. L. REV. 317 (1987) (arguing that racially offensive behavior does not have to be overt).
13. JOHN U. OGBU, BLACK AMERICAN STUDENTS IN AN AFFLUENT SUBURB: A STUDY OF ACADEMIC DISENGAGEMENT 77-84 (2003).
14. See generally Steele, note 11; Steele & Aronson, note 11. See also MICHELLE FINE, FRAMING DROPOUTS: NOTES ON THE POLITICS OF AN URBAN INNER CITY HIGH SCHOOL (1991); Aryn M. Dotterer, Susan M. McHale & Ann C. Crouter, Sociocultural Factors and School Engagement Among African American Youth: The Roles of Racial Discrimination, Racial Socialization, and Ethnic Identity, 13 APPLIED DEVELOPMENTAL SCI. 61 (2009); Chance W. Lewis et al., African American Male Discipline Patterns and School District Response Resulting Impact on Academic Achievement: Implications for Urban Educators and Policy Makers, 1 J. AFRICAN AM. MALES EDUC. 10 (2010); Patricia Phelan et. al., Navigating the Psychosocial Pressures of Adolescence: The Voices and Experiences of High School Youth, 31 AM. EDUC. RES. J. 415 (1994); Ciara Smalls et al., Racial Ideological Beliefs and Racial Discrimination Experiences as Predictors of Academic Engagement Among African American Adolescents, 33 J. BLACK PSYCHOL. 299 (2007); Carol A. Wong et al., The Influence of Ethnic Discrimination and Ethnic Identification on African American Adolescents' School and Socioemotional Adjustment, 71 J. PERSONALITY 1197 (2001).
15. Some of the studies that have failed to simultaneously examine both individual and contextual (school) factors include: Virginia Costenbader & Samia Markson, School Suspension: A Study with Secondary School Students, 36 J. SCH. PSYCHOL. 59 (1998); Jeremy J. Lietz & Mary K. Gregory, Pupil Race and Sex Determinants of Office and Exceptional Educational Referrals, 3 EDUC. RES. Q. 61 (1978); Russell J. Skiba et al., Office Referrals and Suspension: Disciplinary Intervention in Middle Schools, 20 EDUC. & TREATMENT CHILD. 295 (1997); Russell J. Skiba et al., The Color of Discipline: Sources of Racial and Gender Disproportionality in School Discipline, 34 URB. REV. 317 (2002) [hereinafter Skiba et al., The Color of Discipline].
16. See Doris R. Entwisle et al., First Grade and Educational Attainment by Age 22: A New Story, 110 AM. J. SOC. 1458 (2005) [hereinafter Entwisle et al., First Grade]; Doris R. Entwisle et al., The First-Grade Transition in Life Course Perspective, in HANDBOOK OF THE LIFE COURSE 229 (Jeylan T. Mortimer & Michael J. Shanahan eds., 2003) [hereinafter Entwisle et al., First-Grade Transition].
17. See generally Entwisle et al., First Grade, note 19; Entwisle et al., First-Grade Transition, note 19; Robert Haveman et al., Childhood Events and Circumstances Influencing High School Completion, 28 DEMOGRAPHY 133 (1991).
18. See Welch & Payne, note 5, at 29-30; see also Steward J. D'Alessio et al., The Effect of Racial Threat on Interracial and Intraracial Crimes, 31 SOC. SCI. RES. 392 (2002).
19. RUSSELL SKIBA & M. KAREGA RAUSCH, THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ACHIEVEMENT, DISCIPLINE, AND RACE: AN ANALYSIS OF FACTORS PREDICTING ISTEP SCORES 2-3 (2004), Pamela Fenning & Jennifer Rose, Overrepresentation of African American Students in Exclusionary Discipline: The Role of School Policy, 42 URB. EDUC. 536, 536-37 (2007).
20. See AARON KUPCHIK, HOMEROOM SECURITY: SCHOOL DISCIPLINE IN AN AGE OF FEAR 2010); MASS. ADVOC. CENTER, THE WAY OUT: STUDENT EXCLUSION PRACTICES IN BOSTON MIDDLE SCHOOLS (1986); Costenbader & Markson, note 18; Joy Kaufman et al., Patterns in Office Referral Data by Grade, Race/Ethnicity, and Gender, 12 J. POSITIVE BEHAV. INTERVENTION 44 (2010); Aaron Kupchik, Things Are Tough All Over: Race, Ethnicity, Class and School Discipline, 11 PUNISHMENT & SOC'Y INT'L J. PENOLOGY 291 2009); Joe D. Nichols et al., A Darker Shade Of Gray: A Year-End Analysis of Discipline and Suspension Data, 32 EQUITY & EXCELLENCE IN EDUC. 43 (1999); Skiba et al., The Color of Discipline, note 18.
21. See Edward W. Morris, "Tuck in That Shirt!" Race, Class, Gender, and Discipline in an Urban School, 48 SOC. PERSP. 25 (2005); Edward W. Morris, "Ladies" or "Loudies"? Perceptions and Experiences of Black Girls in Classrooms, 38 YOUTH & SOC'Y 490 (2007).
22. See Costenbader & Markson, note 18; Dotterer, McHale & Crouter, note 16; see also Shi-Chang Wu et al., Student Suspension: A Critical Reappraisal, 14 URB. REV. 245 (1982); Maurice C. Taylor & Gerald A. Foster, Bad Boys and School Suspensions: Public Policy Implications for Black Males, 56 SOC. INQUIRY 498 (1986); Josh Kinsler, Racial Disparities in School Discipline: Racism or Rational Choice? (2006) (unpublished manuscript) (on file with author).
23. Tamera B. Murdock et al., Middle-Grade Predictors of Students' Motivation and Behavior in High School, 15 J. ADOLESCENT RES. 327, 336-42 (2000).
24. See generally Michael J. Hindelang et al., Correlates of Delinquency: The Illusion of Discrepancy Between Self-Report and Official Measures, 44 AM. SOC. REV. 995 (1979).
25. Becky Pettit & Bruce Western, Mass Imprisonment and the Life Course: Race and Class Inequality in U.S. Incarceration, 69 AM. SOC. REV. 151, 153 (2004).
26. Christine Bowditch, Getting Rid of Troublemakers: High School Disciplinary Procedures and the Production of Drop-Outs, 40 SOC. PROBS. 493 (1993).
27. See generally Skiba et al, The Color of Discipline, note 18. See also Anna C. McFadden et al., A Study of Race and Gender Bias in the Discipline of Handicapped School Children, 24 URB. REV. 239 (1992); Steven R. Shaw & Jeffrey B. Braden, Race and Gender Bias in the Administration of Corporal Discipline, 19 SCH. PSYCHOL. REV. 278 (1990).
28. See generally Dotterer, McHale & Crouter, note 16; Costenbader & Markson, note 18. See also Stacy B. Horner et. al, The Relation of Student Behavior, Peer Status, Race, and Gender to Decisions About School Discipline Using CHAID Decision Trees and Regression Modeling, 48 J. SCH. PSYCHOL. 135 (2010); John D. McCarthy & Dean R. Hoge, The Social Construction of School Discipline: Racial Disadvantage Out of Universalistic Process, 65 SOC. FORCES 1101 (1987).
29. See generally Fenning & Rose, note 23; Dotterer, McHale & Crouter, note 16; Costenbader & Markson, note 18. See also Frank Bickel & Robert Qualls, The Impact of School Climate on Suspension Rates in the Jefferson County Public Schools, 12 URB. REV. 79 (1980); Linda Mendez et al., School Demographic Variables and Out-Of-School Suspension Rates: A Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of a Large, Ethnically Diverse School District, 39 PSYCHOL. IN SCHS. 259 (2002).
30. A further limitation of this study is that by aggregating the data, the analyses could not isolate disciplinary incidents targeting blacks. That is, their measure of punishment mixed both black and white incidents. Thus, the scenario where increases in the number of black students caused greater punishment for whites could not be ruled out.
31. See generally HUBERT M. BLALOCK, JR., TOWARD A THEORY OF MINORITY-GROUP RELATIONS (1967); Herbert Blumer, Race Prejudice as a Sense of Group Position, 1 PAC. SOC. REV. 3 (1958).
32. See generally David Jacobs & Robert M. O'Brien, The Determinants of Deadly Force: A Structural Analysis of Police Violence, 103 AM. J. OF SOC. 837 (1998); David Jacobs & Jason T. Carmichael, The Political Sociology of the Death Penalty: A Pooled Time-Series Analysis, 67 AM. SOC. REV. 109 (2002); David Jacobs & Jason T. Carmichael, The Politics of Punishment Across Time and Space: A Pooled Time-Series Analysis of Imprisonment Rates, 80 SOC. FORCES 61 (2001); David Jacobs et al., Who Survives on Death Row? An Individual and Contextual Analysis, 72 AM. SOC. REV. 610 (2007); Bradley Keen & David Jacobs, Racial Threat, Partisan Politics, and Racial Disparities in Prison Admissions: A Panel Analysis, 47 CRIMINOLOGY 209 (2009); Stephanie L. Kent & David Jacobs, Minority Threat and Police Strength From 1980 to 2000: A Fixed-Effects Analysis of Linear and Interactive Effects in Large U.S. Cities, 43 CRIMINOLOGY 731 (2003).
33. See generally ANDERSON note 8; FERGUSON note 10; KUPCHIK, note 25; Kupchik, note 25; Morris, "Tuck in that Shirt!", note 26. See also John U. Ogbu, Frameworks-Variability in Minority School Performance: A Problem in Search of an Explanation, in MINORITY EDUCATION: ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES 83 (Evelyn Jacob & Cathie Jordan eds., 1993); John U. Ogbu, Cultural Problems in Minority Education: Their Interpretations and Consequences-Part One: Theoretical Background, 27 URB. REV. 189 (1995); John U. Ogbu, Cultural Problems in Minority Education: Their Interpretations and Consequences-Part Two: Case Studies, 27 URB. REV. 271 (1995).
34. See generally Carla R. Monroe, Why Are "Bad Boys" Always Black? Causes of Disproportionality in School Discipline and Recommendations for Change, 79 CLEARING HOUSE 45 (2005).
35. David Jacobs & Daniel Tope, The Politics of Resentment in the Post-Civil Rights Era: Minority Threat, Homicide, and Ideological Voting in Congress, 112 AM. J. SOC. 1458, 1464 (2007).
36. Allen E. Liska & Mitchell B. Chamlin, Social Structure and Crime Control Among Macro Social Units, 90 AM. J. SOC. 383 (2005).
37. See generally notes 19 and 20. See also Karl L. Alexander et al., The Dropout Process in Life Course Perspective: Early Risk Factors at Home and School, 103 TEACHERS C. REC. 760 (2001); Karl L. Alexander et al., First Grade Behavior: Its Short and Long-Term Consequences for School Performance, 64 CHILD DEV. 801 (1993).
38. See, e.g., Brian D. Johnson, The Multilevel Context of Criminal Sentencing: Integrating Judge-and County-Level Influences, 44 CRIMINOLOGY 259 (2006).
39. Townsend, note 9; see also TOM A.B. SNIJDERS & ROEL J. BOSKER, MULTILEVEL ANALYSIS: AN INTRODUCTION TO BASIC AND ADVANCED MULTILEVEL MODELING (1999) (providing a more detailed justification for this model).
40. Approximately 62% of the Hispanic students, 43% of the African-American students, 24% of the Asian students, and 9% of the white students were enrolled in the free lunch program.
41. For a discussion of Asian Americans as "model minorities, " see Pat K. Chew, Asian-Americans: The "Reticent Minority" and Their Paradoxes, 36 WM. & MARY L. REV. 1 (1994); Brian Johnson & Sara Betsinger, Punishing the "Model Minority": Asian-American Criminal Sentencing Outcomes in Federal District Courts, 47 CRIMINOLOGY 1045 (2009).
42. The predicted probability of a binary outcome variable in a logistic regression analysis is defined as:
43. See generally Blalock, note 42; Jacobs & Carmichael, note 43. See also Kent & Jacobs, note 43; Karen F. Parker et al., Racial Threat, Concentrated Disadvantage and Social Control: Considering the Macro-Level Sources of Variation in Arrests, 43 CRIMINOLOGY 1111 (2005); John Shelton Reed, Percent Black and Lynching: A Test of Blalock's Theory, 50 SOC. FORCES 356 (1972).
44. See Angela L. Harris, I (Don't) Hate School: Revisiting Oppositional Culture Theory of Blacks' Resistance to Schooling, 85 SOC. FORCES 797, 802-24 (2006).
45. See generally Daniel S. Nagin & Raymond Paternoster, On the Relationship of Past to Future Participation in Delinquency, 29 CRIMINOLOGY 163 (2001); Daniel Nagin & Raymond Paternoster, Population Heterogeneity and State Dependence: State of the Evidence and Directions for Future Research, 16 J. QUANTITATIVE CRIMINOLOGY 117 (2000).
46. See generally Kamaldeep Bhui et al., Racial/Ethnic Discrimination and Common Mental Disorders Among Workers: Findings From the EMPIRIC Study of Ethnic Minority Groups in the United Kingdom, 95 AM. J. PUB. HEALTH 496 (2005); Gene H. Brody et al., Perceived Discrimination and the Adjustment of African-American Youths: A Five-Year Longitudinal Analysis with Contextual Moderation Effects, 77 CHILD DEV. 1170 (2006); Robert M. Sellers et al., Racial Identity, Racial Discrimination, Perceived Stress, and Psychological Distress Among African-American Young Adults, 44 J. HEALTH & SOC. BEHAV. 302 (2003).