The School-to-Prison Pipeline (STPP) is a theoretical construct that describes the results of harsh disciplinary practices that push students out of the public education arena and into the criminal justice system. In short, the School-to-Prison Pipeline is made up of three significant contributing components that come together to perpetuate the inequality within the public education system in America. (1) The enforcement of “Zero-Tolerance Policies” that permit the use of extreme disciplinary measures that may lead to the removal of students from the classroom, (2) the criminalization and racialization of student misbehavior, and (3) the increased presence of law enforcement within school settings that result in student punishments that follow the student beyond the borders of schools, such as criminal arrests, and ticketing, and into a projected criminal pipeline.
Zero-tolerance policies are school regulations that mandate severe or punitive punishments, such as suspension or expulsion, without consideration of individual circumstances or underlying factors. Schools that uphold such policies argue that Zero-Tolerance measures provide direction for a healthy learning environment, while also fostering well-adjusted members of society who understand the consequences of poor decision-making. Instead, much of the literature has indicated that such consequences have been a pathway that pushes students out of the educational system and into the criminal justice system.
