The zero-tolerance polices that American public schools established some 25 years ago have not made schools safer or more orderly, and in fact may be having the opposite effect, according to a new report by the Vera Institute of Justice.
The report, released last month and produced by the institute’s Center on Youth Justice, evaluates empirical research from hard-line school policies that mandate suspension or expulsion for students who engage in misconduct. Such policies gained significant momentum throughout the 1990s and 2000s, some of which, the researchers note, could be an overreaction to high-profile school-based tragedies like the Columbine massacre in 1999.
