Definition

The school-to-prison pipeline is a term used to refer to students, often Black students, being pushed into the juvenile justice system through disciplinary actions, which can have lasting detrimental effects, such as lost classroom time, lower academic achievement, and increased likelihood of not finishing their education. According to the Columbia Law School’s Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies, Black girls are six times as likely as white girls to be suspended; Black boys, three times as likely as white boys. If using the term, some explanation is important for context, including the factors such as systemic racism that exacerbate the imbalances among who ends up in the pipeline.

Additional resources

• The school-to-prison pipeline, explained (Vox)
• School-to-Prison Pipeline (American Civil Liberties Union)
• The School-to-Prison Pipeline: Time to Shut It Down (National Education Association)

Summary

The school-to-prison pipeline is a term used to refer to students, often Black students, being pushed into the juvenile justice system through disciplinary actions. If using the term, some explanation is important for context, including the factors such as systemic racism that exacerbate the imbalances among who ends up in the pipeline.

Related terms

• implicit bias
• racial profiling
• dropout