Interactions Between Schools and Juvenile Justice
Principal Investigators
Dr. Allison Evans Cuellar, Ph.D.
Health Administration and Policy
George Mason University
Dr. Anne Morrison Piehl, Ph.D.
Rutgers University
Summary
Rationale
Nationally, the proportion of youth with school problem behavior and truancy who have contact with the juvenile justice system has been rising. At the same time disciplinary responses to student misbehavior, such as suspension and expulsion, have become increasingly common in schools, and may contribute to further delinquency. These impacts may differ by race and ethnicity, connecting racial disproportionality in schooling behaviors or policies to racial disproportionality in the justice system.
Purpose for the Research
There are two primary routes for school problem behavior to affect juvenile justice: through the referral by schools of children to justice agencies and through schooling-based violations of conditions of probation. By understanding the sequence of academic problems, behavior problems, and justice involvement, we can suggest alternative school and justice policies that are expected to lead to better outcomes. Such guidance would aid in developing appropriate programs to reduce barriers to academic success for youth involved in or at-risk of becoming involved in juvenile justice.
We have four primary research questions:
- What is the extent of school problems in achievement, attendance, and behavioral problems and how are these problems interrelated? Do problems in one domain typically precede problems in the others? Do these relationships vary by race and ethnicity?
- To what extent do school problems in three domains, academic achievement, attendance, and behavioral problems, trigger justice involvement? Do these triggers differ by race and ethnicity?
- Do school problems in these domains contribute to probation violations and sustained justice involvement? Do these effects differ by race and ethnicity?
- Do school disciplinary responses to problem behavior, such as suspension and expulsion, contribute to youth delinquency by decreasing supervision and providing greater opportunities to engage in delinquent behavior?
Study Methodology
In order to perform detailed analyses of how schooling interacts with juvenile justice, we must link data so that we can analyze the timing of school and justice events together. For these analyses, we will match student-level administrative data from two sources: school districts and juvenile justice systems. Longitudinal administrative data would be linked (based on name, gender, date of birth). Once the data have been linked, these identifiers will be deleted so that the records are anonymous to the researchers.
School data would include demographics, behavioral incidents, academic achievement (such as standardized test scores), special education status, free or reduced school-lunch eligibility, English proficiency, and attendance information. This allows us to observe all youth in school, not just those referred to juvenile justice, so that we can understand which school behaviors predict justice involvement and then how justice involvement impacts school outcomes. Statistical analyses such as multivariate regression techniques with propensity score matching will provide appropriate estimates for the four research questions described above.
We will require the assistance of local sites to provide data extracts that can be linked using approved, secure procedures. We hope to conduct comparable studies in two locations so that we can learn from comparing the results across sites.
What are the benefits to participating?
Models for Change state sites and local partners will receive feedback from the research team about their populations and the impact of their policies. This feedback will aid sites in thinking about improving or altering existing strategies or implementing new ideas based on the findings.