The school-to-prison pipeline is a term used to describe what happens when students do not receive supports in school and are instead pushed out of their classrooms through suspensions, alternative school placements, expulsions, and contact with school police officers and the court system.
Often what students need is basic: a school with supportive adults who treat every student fairly and ensure that every student has the tools to thrive. Sometimes, students need the adults in their schools to provide additional supports and services to address significant underlying challenges like trauma, hunger, bullying, homelessness, or unaddressed special education needs.
Instead of creating safe and supportive school environments, many school districts continue to rely on exclusionary discipline, police officers, and courts to punish young people, despite a lot of research showing that these methods are harmful to students. This punitive and criminal approach to students leads to trauma, missed classroom time, labeling by teachers and peers, frustration, disengagement, and the stress of navigating the justice system. There are also future consequences, including an increased likelihood of being held back, school dropout, and contact with the juvenile and adult criminal justice systems.