More Than a Metaphor: The Contribution of Exclusionary Discipline to a School-to-Prison Pipeline

TLDR

The school‑to‑prison pipeline concept links school disciplinary practices to increased juvenile justice risk, yet its empirical validity remains uncertain. The study reviews school exclusion literature, proposes a model linking suspension and expulsion to juvenile justice contact, and recommends alternatives to preserve order and educational opportunity. The authors review existing research on school exclusion and develop a model tracing how suspension and expulsion may lead to juvenile justice involvement. Multivariate analyses show that out‑of‑school suspension and expulsion independently increase risk for various negative developmental outcomes.

Abstract

The term and construct “school-to-prison” pipeline has been widely used by advocates, researchers, and policymakers to describe the relationship between school disciplinary practices and increased risk of juvenile justice contact. It has been unclear whether the construct is a useful heuristic or a descriptor of empirically validated relationships that establish school disciplinary practices as a risk factor for negative developmental outcomes, including juvenile justice involvement. In this article, we examine the literature surrounding one facet of the pipeline, school exclusion as a disciplinary option, and propose a model for tracing possible pathways of effect from school suspension and expulsion to the ultimate contact point of juvenile justice involvement. Available multivariate analyses suggest that regardless of demographic, achievement, or system status, out-of-school suspension and expulsion are in and of themselves risk factors for a range of negative developmental outcomes. Recommendations are offered to assist schools in replacing disciplinary exclusion with a range of alternatives whose goal is to preserve both school order and provide all students with educational opportunities.