Agrument on Zero-Tolerance Policy

Zero-tolerance policies developed to prevent drug abuse and violence in school in 1990 in the U.S. Even if those behaviors or small things minor offenses were done by accident or unconsciously, students get prosecuted and sent into the juvenile justice system as a punishment. Schools create disciplines for suspending and expelling students when they break certain rules. For example, if a student brings a weapon to school, including items that may not hurt anyone like nail clippers and toy guns, if a student has drugs, including medications or alcohol on campus, if a student says anything that someone could get as a threat, if a student does not obey teacher’s instruction, if a student fights with other students, the student would be given punishment with no choice. After adopting this policy, the number of school suspensions and dismissals increased, and the number of students who send into the prison also increased as well. Therefore, the school to prison pipeline became an issue in the education system.

With the creation of the zero tolerance policy, it changed the way student are being disciplined. In the 1990’s, in fear of the increasing crime rate, The United States Congress created a law that allowed public schools to enforce strict disciplinary policies for misbehaving students (Mental Health America). The zero tolerance policy states: “[the policy] mandates predetermined consequences or punishments for specific offenses that are intended to be applied regardless of the seriousness of the behavior, mitigating circumstances, or situational context”

Rebecca London, a research professor at UC Santa Cruz, explains about how the zero tolerance policy plays a critical role in developing the school-to-prison pipeline. The zero tolerance policy was implemented in 1990 in hopes to reduce the amount of criminal related activity in schools (London 2017). Because of the policy, many minor or small infringement of the school rules criminalized at-risk students. For example, students were punished heavily for carrying nail clippers, having over the counter medications, and even cutting the lunch line (London 2017). Students who partake in any of the examples or anything similar will be suspended or face tougher consequences than normal discipline actions compared to a privileged school. By punishing

After the Columbine massacre, schools have truly put their foot down on student threats and bullying by enforcing zero-tolerance policies that punish any violation of a rule, regardless of ignorance, accidents or other circumstances.("9 Ways School Has Changed Since Columbine." Criminal Justice Degrees Guide. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2017.) Students, staff, parents and other school visitors who are in possession of a weapon or drug are punished. zero-tolerance has lead to many criticisms and overreactions by school districts, such as student expulsions for bringing nail clippers or a knife to cut a cake to school.("9 Ways School Has Changed Since Columbine." Criminal Justice Degrees Guide. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Oct.

One of the problems that have been created by the implementation of the zero tolerance policies is the elimination of common sense when determining punishment for non-threatening and non-violent offenses. Administrators have stopped considering the intent of an action or the circumstances of the event. The Lindsay Brown case is a good example of how school administrators have stopped utilizing common sense when a violation has occurred. Lindsey Brown was a high school student that was in the process of moving and had several boxes in her car from the move when she went to school the next day. One of the boxes containing some kitchen items fell over in her car while she was driving; Lindsey parked her car and went to class. The school security officer noticed a knife on the floor of Lindsey’s car while she was in class.

We watched videos and read articles about the problems in the school system and the suspension rates. The first two video was about students being suspended and having their education taken away because of the zero tolerance policy. The zero tolerance policy is a school or district policy that mandates predetermination consequences or punishments for specific offences that are intended to be applied regardless of the seriousness of behavior.

Most school districts these days have initiated Zero Tolerance Policies against a variety of different substances, items, and actions. These include anything from drugs and alcohol to weapons and bullying. In this specific incident a New Jersey School District’s Zero Tolerance Policy derailed a third grade classroom party and traumatized a nine year old boy. In May, the school along with the local police and the county prosecution office agreed that incidents would now be turned over to the police. The Superintendent of the New Jersey School District estimated that police officers may have been called in about five times per day to handle issues in the school of just under two thousand students (Platoff, 2016). At the end of the school year,

In school zero-tolerance policies are intended to eliminate behaviors deemed as intolerable, such as violence, bullying, or having a weapon. But these policies are useless and unneeded because they cannot be used until after the damage has been done. Often times the intolerable behavior becomes more prevalent when the types of policies are put into place.

According to Black (2015), “Approximately three million students per year have been excluded from school and deprived of their statutory and constitutional rights to education.” (p.81). The zero-tolerance policy was made in efforts to protect all students' safety and to maintain an effective learning environment that is free from drug, weapons, violence, and school disruption. However, Black’s research indicated that, as implemented, zero tolerance policies are related to a number of negative consequences and are ineffective in the long run (2015). Besides students receiving harsh discipline for minor infractions in school, the crucial downfall of the policy is the increasing rates of school dropout and juvenile prison admissions. Where do

Zero Tolerance is described in the criminal justice world as a policing strategy that involves relentless order maintenance and aggressive law enforcement, against even minor crimes and incivilities. For many decades now, most of the evidence and research found on the subject matter has been traced back to the New York City Police Department; with its most prominent era lasting throughout the 1990’s. Proponents for zero tolerance policing argue that evidence of its deterrence can be found in research stats, with homicide rates dropping 56% across United States cities between 1990 and 2009. Opponents of Zero Tolerance Policing counter those arguments by fighting the stats with the stats—although across the board, some numbers have

Zero Tolerance Policy Argument Because of the strictness and inflexibility enforced by zero-tolerance policies, they usually tend to punish the innocent and cause people to rebel more, thus making them ineffective. Although some my argue that the purpose of zero-tolerance policies is purely to protect and create a safer environment, it has been proven that these policies usually only create more problems than they solve. The most prevalent example of the punishment zero-tolerance policies brings to a victim exists in the public school system, where zero-tolerance for bullying and violence policies are heavily implemented. While it seems that these are enforced to protect students, it leads to a problem; children are unable to defend themselves in the instance of a violent altercation with another student.

There are many advantages of having the zero tolerance policy in schools such as students having a better reason to learn. If students realize that when they do something wrong and they get punished it ruins their grades and lowers their academic level from missing so much school from suspension or missing a certain class because of in school suspension. It also helps them in the future, it allows them to understand how important it is following the rules and shows that they get punished for not following rules. Students learn to take responsibilities for their actions because in the future if you get into trouble the law enforcement or your boss is not gonna listen to your excuses on why you did something. It also helps as long as you don't

Zero-Tolerance doesn’t make students feel safe. In fact, it makes them afraid. Thus, it teaches them about the

The zero tolerance policy has become a national controversy in regards to the solid proven facts that it criminalizes children and seems to catch kids who have no intention of doing harm. Although, there has been substantial evidence to prove that the policies enforced in many schools have gone far beyond the extreme to convict children of their wrongdoing. The punishments for the act of misconduct have reached a devastating high, and have pointed students in the wrong direction. Despite the opinions of administrators and parents, as well as evidence that zero tolerance policies have deterred violence in many public and private schools, the rules of conviction and punishment are unreasonable and should be modified.

Once clearly defined, enforcing the zero tolerance policies can be relatively easy for the offenses related to illegal drugs and alcohol. These are serious threats to school safety and using common sense when applying the policies against such offenses should help. Violence on the other hand is more difficult to define at schools because it can take many forms. Under the Gun-Free Schools Act of 1994, in order for school