1,000 signatures reached
To: Mayor Bill de Blasio
Tell Mayor Bill de Blasio to End Arrests, Summons, and Juvenile Reports in Schools
I ask that you immediately take action to end the school-to-prison pipeline in NYC Schools by adopting the recommendations of the Urban Youth Collaborative. In particular, we request that you issue an Operations Order and take all necessary measures to end the use of arrests, summons, and juvenile reports in schools for misdemeanors and violations. Thousands of young people, disproportionately youth of color and young people with disabilities, face oppressive and discriminatory school policing and discipline, which drive lasting entanglements in the criminal legal system.
Why is this important?
New York City (NYC) must reverse policies that have proven ineffective at creating safe and supportive environments for students. Policing in schools promotes the exclusion and criminalization of Black and Latinx students, rather than their education. NYC should end arrests, as well as the issuance of summonses and juvenile reports, in schools for non-criminal violations and misdemeanors.
Research shows that policing in schools fails to make schools safer or reduce bullying or fighting. The presence of police criminalizes typical adolescent behavior, such as disorderly conduct, which is the number one reason for summons in our schools. Experiencing an arrest for the first time in high school nearly doubles the odds of the student dropping out, and a court appearance nearly quadruples the odds of the student dropping out.
Police in NYC schools largely police low-level offenses, including normal youthful behavior. In the last year, nearly 85 percent of all arrests, summonses, and NYPD juvenile reports of young people in NYC schools were for misdemeanors and violations.
For Black and Latinx students our schools continue to be an on-ramp into the criminal justice system. Policing in schools creates extreme and persistent racial disparities.
-Black girls are 10.4 times more likely to be arrested and 6.3 times more likely to be issued a summons than their White peers.
-Black boys are 5.6 times more likely to be arrested and 9 times more likely to receive a summons than White boys.
-Black and Latinx students account for 92% of all summons and 89% of all arrests.
To end racial disparities in arrests, summons, and juvenile reports, the city must commit to ending these practices altogether. Instead of criminalizing young people, New York City should invest in supportive services like restorative justice, mental health supports, guidance counselors, and social workers.
Research shows that policing in schools fails to make schools safer or reduce bullying or fighting. The presence of police criminalizes typical adolescent behavior, such as disorderly conduct, which is the number one reason for summons in our schools. Experiencing an arrest for the first time in high school nearly doubles the odds of the student dropping out, and a court appearance nearly quadruples the odds of the student dropping out.
Police in NYC schools largely police low-level offenses, including normal youthful behavior. In the last year, nearly 85 percent of all arrests, summonses, and NYPD juvenile reports of young people in NYC schools were for misdemeanors and violations.
For Black and Latinx students our schools continue to be an on-ramp into the criminal justice system. Policing in schools creates extreme and persistent racial disparities.
-Black girls are 10.4 times more likely to be arrested and 6.3 times more likely to be issued a summons than their White peers.
-Black boys are 5.6 times more likely to be arrested and 9 times more likely to receive a summons than White boys.
-Black and Latinx students account for 92% of all summons and 89% of all arrests.
To end racial disparities in arrests, summons, and juvenile reports, the city must commit to ending these practices altogether. Instead of criminalizing young people, New York City should invest in supportive services like restorative justice, mental health supports, guidance counselors, and social workers.