Zero-tolerance policies harm children because they kickstart a potential lifetime of being cycled through the criminal justice system (Heise & Nance, 2021). Many juveniles will engage in delinquent behaviors because of their home environment, mental illnesses, and sense of isolation or not belonging. Some theories that explain why juveniles may engage in criminal activities are Durkheim's Strain theory, Agnew's Anomie theory, social control theory, and Sutherland's differential association theory (Akers et al., 2021).

Status offenses also will be a cause for why an adolescent may commit a crime. These are offenses such as underage drinking or driving. Almost all teenagers will commit a status offense. This is due to a longing for adult freedoms, not because they are high-risk antisocial children. These adolescents will stop committing all forms of crime at around 20 (Farrington, 2003). Zero-tolerance policies largely target status offenses; adolescents using drugs or alcohol may be coping with at-home issues or just experimenting with adult behaviors.

Zero-tolerance policies ignore the contextual reasons for a child committing offenses, only using overly harsh and life-altering punishments. Zero-tolerance policies force our children out of school and straight into the criminal justice system, effectively changing their life paths in a harmful way.

Children who are forced into the juvenile justice system face abusive treatment where their mental health is almost completely ignored (Rocky Mountain PBS, 2017). Over 50% of all inmates in prisons or juvenile correctional facilities have mental health issues (Ferrer & Hedges 2011). Most of these people are not adequately treated, and their conditions worsen while in correctional facilities (Oberholtzer, 2017).

Another issue with zero-tolerance policies and the juvenile justice system is that it labels these children as "criminal," "delinquent," "helpless," etc. The labeling of a child can cause them to internalize that criminal title, causing them to accept a future in the criminal justice system.  

Zero-tolerance policies should be eradicated from schools. Schools must prioritize building a community and sense of belonging for their students. Schools should be prioritizing the mental health of students who are at risk instead of harshly punishing them and effectively pushing them towards the school-to-prison pipeline. It should be in the interest of all citizens that zero-tolerance policies are banned from public schools. The best way to prevent crime is to help children understand their mental or learning disabilities, help children out of toxic environments, and give our children a home away from home at school. Schools need to be safe places for children to be; instead of shoving antisocial or at-risk children out of schools through zero-tolerance policies, schools should prioritize the mental health of each student.

In Colorado, zero-tolerance policies have already slowly been erased from schools. Instead, our schools use a multi-tiered system of support that uses evidence-based interventions and assessment practices for at-risk students (Rosa et al., 2015). However, it is important that this transition happens federally.

Contacting your congressmen will show the rise in public interest to remove zero-tolerance policies from schools. To help end zero-tolerance policies across public schools in America please consider reaching out to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. I have provided the committee’s contact information and a link to email them below.

 

https://edworkforce.house.gov/contact/

U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce
2176 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

Phone: 202-225-4527

 

Works Cited 

Akers, R., Sellers, C., & Jennings, W. (2021). Criminological Theories: Introduction, Evaluation, and Application. Oxford University Press. 

Farrington, D. P. (2003). Developmental and Life-Course Criminology: Key Theoretical and Empirical Issues - The 2002 Sutherland Award Address. Criminology, 41, 221–255.

Farrer TJ, Hedges DW. Prevalence of traumatic brain injury in incarcerated groups compared to the general population: a meta-analysis. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. (2011) 35:390–4. 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2011.01.007 

Heise, M., & Nance, J. P. (2021). “Defund The (School) Police”? Bringing Data to Key School-to-Prison Pipeline Claims. The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (1973), 111(3), 717–772. https://www.jstor.org/stable/48617797

Oberholtzer, E. (2017, August 23). Police, Courts, Jails, and Prisons All Fail Disabled People. Prison Policy Initiative. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2017/08/23/disability/#:~:text=The%20AVID%20Prison%20Project%20reports,other%20serious%20mental%20health%20consequences 

Rocky Mountain PBS. (2017, May 18). Insight with John Ferrugia: “Kids in Cuffs.” YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-9q5Ye9MpU&t=514s 

Rosa, J., Keelan, K., & Krueger, J. (2015). Alternatives to Zero-Tolerance Policies: Best Practice Summary. chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.cde.state.co.us/dropoutprevention/bestpracticesalternativestozerotolerance