Growth over Punishment: Ending Georgia’s School-to-Prison Pipeline

In 2012, Creekside Elementary School called the police to report an alleged assault against their principal. When the officer arrived on scene, he witnessed a kindergarten student throwing a tantrum and damaging school property. He subsequently placed the young girl in handcuffs and brought her down to the police station. At just six years old, authorities charged her as a juvenile with simple battery of a schoolteacher and criminal damage to property. Though the charges were eventually dropped, this incident exposed a kindergartner to the criminal justice system for the first time. 

Instances like this contribute to Georgia’s school-to-prison pipeline. The American Civil Liberties Union defines the school-to-prison pipeline as “…the policies and practices that push our nation’s schoolchildren, especially our most at-risk children, out of classrooms and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems.” These policies include overuse of disciplinary actions such as suspensions and expulsions, police interventions in the classroom, and the use of disciplinary alternative schools for students who have been suspended or expelled. Studies show that school suspensions increase the likelihood of adult incarceration. Upsettingly, the number of suspensions beyond the first does not increase the probability of incarceration. It only takes one bad incident to set students down a different path. 

The presence of school resource officers (SROs) further exacerbates this issue in many elementary, middle, and high schools. SRO presence in schools increases the rates of suspensions, expulsions, police referrals, and arrests. This result disproportionately affects Black students, male students, and students with disabilities. While SROs can successfully prevent or end some instances of school violence, the Vera Institute of Justice found that restorative justice programs, mental health services, and youth development are far better strategies for protecting students. 

In 2024, the Southern Poverty Law Center issued a report on Georgia’s school-to-prison pipeline. They describe Georgia schools’ reputation for zero-tolerance policies. Many districts suspend students for the first reported instance of vaping, totaling 22,209 vape-related school disciplinary actions in the 2022-23 school year. The report also outlines the poor condition of disciplinary alternative schools. Oftentimes, students must navigate their course material alone without any instructor giving directions. Underlying these staggering statistics are the disproportionate impacts on students of color and students with learning disabilities. While Black children make up 37.5% of Georgia students, they account for over half of all out-of-school suspensions, expulsions, and assignments to alternative schools. Additionally, students with disabilities are overrepresented in school suspensions. 

Georgia students deserve better. Other states have enacted policies that outlaw disciplinary action for minor transgressions on school grounds to limit the school-to-prison pipeline effect. California, for example, permanently banned suspending students for “willful defiance” such as rolling eyes or talking back to a teacher. By limiting the punishable conduct, California is making space for students to make mistakes without being removed from the classroom. Excessive punishment, whether by administrators or SROs, robs students of class time and isolates them from peers. In 2020, Virginia passed HB 256, stating that an elementary or secondary school student is not guilty of disorderly conduct in a public place if tit occurred on the property of an elementary or secondary school, on a school bus, or at any activity conducted or sponsored by any elementary or secondary school. 

Currently, Georgia law does not restrict suspensions or expulsions for willful defiance. In fact, the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice promotes SRO intervention for “…students who are disruptive and/or inappropriately dressed.” Georgia students, including those in elementary school, can be arrested and charged with disorderly conduct for disrupting school. So, SROs have permission to intervene in very minor problems. They then have the right to charge the students involved if that minor problem disrupts school in any way. The state must consider restricting school disciplinary actions and police involvement in schools to only those instances that are necessary. This will help protect students from falling into the criminal justice system. 

Such limitations are absolutely possible. In Clayton County, the county’s schools and police officers created a tiered system for the juvenile court system’s most frequent offenses: disruption, fights, disorderly conduct, and failure to follow police instructions. Rather than send students directly through the criminal justice system, students were issued a warning and enrolled in conflict resolution workshops. In response to this change, juvenile court referrals decreased by 66%, suspensions decreased by eight percent, and graduation rates in Clayton County rose 20%. The rest of the state should adopt this model, prioritizing conflict resolution and growth rather than punishment.