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restorative justice and deterrence
restorative justice and deterrence
restorative justice as a deterrence
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Introduction For a long time it was thought that there is only one way to discipline students. But recently a new method has arisen and is becoming ever more popular. It is restorative justice. This method involves restorative practises that are meant to teach long term lessons while it’s opposite, zero-tolerance, is more of a short term solution. Zero-tolerance is punitive punishment for unruly behaviour that often consists of detention, suspension and expulsion. There are mixed views on which of these methods are better to use on students. This paper will analyse both methods and provide the public opinion as well as which method is better, based on the research. Zero-Tolerance Section Zero-tolerance is defined as the refusal to accept antisocial behaviour, typically by strict application of the law. The punishment for said behaviours is detention, suspension and expulsion. Zero-tolerance is meant to be used as a last resort by teachers and administrators but often ends up being used for minor offenses. Major offenses are: bringing a gun to school and assaulting a teacher or another student. Minor offenses include: being out of uniform, bringing a cell phone to class or using profanity or any kind of offensive language. It is often the case that those who are being persecuted fall under a certain demographic. These students are generally Latino or African American. According to an article by Graham in the “2008-09 school year, black students had 35 suspensions per 100 students; Latino students, 23 per 100; white students, 14 per 100; and Asian students, 5 per 100” (Graham). In “Proactive Discipline” the authors document that black male students are overrepresented in suspension and are punished for more subjective offenses, s... ... middle of paper ... ...tive justice they learn to think about how their behaviour is affecting the community. Restorative justice is still very new and requires more time to pass before its effect on students can be seen, be it good or bad. Works Cited Daniels, Peggy. Zero tolerance policies in schools. Detroit: Greenhaven P, 2009. Davis, Fania. "Discipline with Dignity: Oakland schools try talk circles." 5 March 2014. The Christian Science Monitor . Magazine Article . 5 March 2014. Graham, Kristen A. "Report says zero-tolerance discipline makes Philly schools less safe." Philadelphia Inquirer 14 January 2011: 3. Document . Sharkey, Jill D and Pamela A Fenning. "Rationale for Designing School Contexts in Support of Proactive Discipline." Journal of School Violence (2012): 95-104. Document. Skiba, Russell J. "The Failure of Zero Tolerance ." Reclaiming Journal (2012): 27-33. Document.
Martinez, S. (2009). A system gone berserk: How are zero-tolerance policies really …..affecting schools? Preventing School Failure, 53(3), 153-157. Retrieved from …..http://search.proquest.com.ezproxylocal.library.nova.edu/docview/228530113?acco…..untid=6579
If you did not know, the zero tolerance policy is when students break school behavior rules and strict regulations created by the district or school and get severe consequences for it. Carla Amurao, the author of the article, “Fact Sheet: How Bad Is the School-to-Prison Pipeline?”, stated that “statistics reflect that these policies disproportionately target students of color”. Students of color are being affected so badly by this policy, that statistics show black students are 3 times more likely to get expelled than white students. Since these students are being expelled or arrested for breaking zero tolerance policy rules, they are missing valuable information in classes due to court hearings. But, some people argue that the zero tolerance policy is unfair to all students, making the education system equal for all to succeed. For example, a “2007 study by the Advancement Project and the Power U Center for Social Change says that for every 100 students who were suspended, 15 were Black, 7.9 were American Indian, 6.8 were Latino and 4.8 were white”. As you can see, the zero tolerance policy affects all races, making them miss their education because of certain consequences. Because the mindset of these people is that, if the zero-tolerance policy does not affect just one race or group of people, then the education system
A new policy is needed and most certainly should start out with holding schools to handle their own discipline situations, rather than relying on school security and police (Wilson, 2014). School administrators must be able to differentiate between what is a true discipline situation and when a student simply made a mistake. The rate of school suspensions have skyrocketed over the last thirty years from 1.7 million nationwide to 3.1 million and growing today (ACLU, n.d.). Each school needs to create policies of when to get school security involved and what the school’s security job involves. Unless there is a true threat to the safety of the school and/or its student’s law enforcement should never be called (Wison, 2014). The instinct to dial 911 at every infraction has to stop. Furthermore the schools must develop a gender and racial fairness; black children should not be receiving harsher punishments for similar infractions of white students (Wilson,
The intent of this argumentative research paper, is to take a close look at school systems disciplinary policies and the effect they have on students. While most school systems in the nation have adopted the zero tolerance policies, there are major concerns that specific students could be targeted, and introduced into the criminal justice system based on these disciplinary policies. This research paper is intended to focus on the reform of zero tolerance policies, and minimizing the school to prison pipeline.
A growing number of probation officers, judges, prosecutors as well as other juvenile professionals are advocating for a juvenile justice system which is greatly based on restorative justice. These groups of people have been frustrated by the policy uncertainty between retribution and treatment as well as unrealistic and unclear public expectations. As a primary mission, the balanced approach or policy allows juvenile justice systems together with its agencies to improve in their capacity of protecting the community and ensuring accountability of the system and the offenders . It enables the youths to become productive and competent citizens. This guiding philosophical framework for this policy is restorative justice as it promotes the maximum involvement of the community, victim, and the offender in the justice process. Restorative justice also presents a viable alternative to sanctions as well as interventions that are based on traditional or retributive treatment assumptions. In the policy proposal for restorative justice, the balanced approach mission assists juvenile justice system in becoming more responsive to the needs of the community, victims, and the offenders . Therefore, this paper considers how restorative justice reduces referrals of juveniles to criminal and juvenile justice systems and gives a proposal on the implementation of restorative justice in the community together with a number of recommendations. For instance, preliminary research reveals that application of restorative justice in schools significantly reduces school expulsions, suspensions, and referrals to the criminal justice systems. Restorative justice programs are an alternative for zero-tolerance policies for juveniles or youths .
(2005, Charles) The premise of Assertive Discipline is that both teachers and students have the “need and right” (2005, Charles) to a caring and respectful classroom environment. Teachers are required to facilitate learning and assist students in reaching their full potential. This is accomplished by teachers clearly and confidently articulating class expectations and teaching student’s what behavior is “acceptable and unacceptable” (Marsh 2010 p233). Cooperative behavior is encouraged by “incentives and recognition” (Lyons et al., 2014) whilst unruly behaviour is managed with a “hierarchy of sanctions” (Lyons et al., 2014). Equally, teachers also have the right to facilitate learning in a proficient manner without interruptions from students and have support from administrators and parents. (Berghuis, 2005,
Schools inevitably must deal with disciplinary action when it comes to misconduct in students. However, at what point should the courts and law enforcement intervene? “Zero tolerance” policies started as a trend in the school setting during the 1990s in “response to the widespread perception that juvenile violence was increasing and school officials needed to take desperate measures to address the problem” (Aull 2012:182-183). However, national statistics indicated a decrease in juvenile’s share of crime during the influx of zero tolerance policies in schools (National Crime Justice Reference Service 2005).
In all grades of education, from kindergarten to college, there is a form of discipline known as a zero tolerance policy. While the exact wording is different from school to school, basically a zero tolerance policy means that a student is immediately suspended, asked to attend an alternative school, or expelled if they are suspected or caught doing certain things. These policies are in place to hopefully deter students from doing drugs or being violent, but the ethics behind them are questionable. Some research has shown that these policies may not even work, and other forms of discipline would be better suited to help students. The three main activities that result in the zero tolerance policy are being caught with drugs or alcohol, being caught with a weapon, and bullying.
Another major reason why juveniles are ending up in the juvenile justice system is because many schools have incorporate the zero tolerance policy and other extreme school disciplinary rules. In response to violent incidents in schools, such as the Columbine High School massacre, school disciplinary policies have become increasingly grave. These policies have been enacted at the school, district and state levels with the hopes of ensuring the safety of students and educators. These policies all rely on the zero tolerance policy. While it is understandable that protecting children and teachers is a priority, it is not clear that these strict policies are succeeding in improving the safety in schools.
Schwartz, W. (1996, October). An overview of strategies to reduce school violence. ERIC Clearinghouse on Urban Education. Retrieved October 21, 2001.
Many schools around the country have been faced with violence and even actual deaths. Take the incident at Columbine, for example. Many schools for this very reason have proposed and in some cases even imposed a policy called, The Zero Tolerance Policy. The article, ”Taking Zero Tolerance to the Limit” by Jesse Katz, is about the absolute ban of drugs and weapons in schools. It doesn’t work. It doesn’t work because it punishes everyone for the problems of few, it’s too extreme and there is still no clear line between what is a drug and what is a weapon.
Students who are disruptive in class and refused to do their work were sent down to discipline where they received the consequences for their actions. More often than not, in school suspension was the end result. The concept of in school suspension was new to me because it was not something that I had seen when I was growing up.
From the good to the bad, hazing is at the least “an issue.” Hazing from one side can have effects ranging from a hangover, to burst cheek pouches, to even death. On the other hand, a strong bond between the students is made, and gives good experience to younger students in their life education. Looking at Foderado, we are presented a case of extreme penalties from a harsh incident. A boy who was just trying to fit into a group was given the most extreme of penalties from an incident of pure stupidity.
Restorative Justice can also be used in our education system as it spreads across schools as a more
On the Cleveland Plain Dealer, a day does not go by without talking of the violence coming into schools from the streets. Patrick O'Donnell, a reporter for the Plain Dealer wrote a story on a high school in Strongsville where the school virtually shut down classes due to Internet threats of violence made on the school by an 18-year-old boy. Though the student is charged with misdemeanor counts of aggravated menacing and inducing panic among the students, how can we as abiding citizens of society reduce and even eliminate such violence in schools? Furthermore, last week, seven students were suspended at South High School in Cleveland and one of them was arrested after a sophomore threw a chair that knocked out an assistant principal because of a brawl between students. (Reed, 2005) School is meant to be a safe haven for children, a place where you come to learn and not to plan-out who your next victim will be.