Keeping Kids in Schools

Gonzalez, T. (2012). Keeping Kids in Schools: Restorative Justice, Punitive Discipline, and the School to Prison Pipeline. JL & Educ., 41, 281.

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This Article explores the implementation, development, and impact of a school-based restorative justice program across the United States with a specific case study of North Senior High School in Denver, Colorado. The article is segmented into five sections. Part I introduces the restorative justice model which has grown drastically in the past five years. The restorative justice as an alternate approach to discipline which involves students, teachers, families, schools, and communities in conflict solution, promoting academic success, and addressing school safety. Part II details the impact of punitive discipline policies in schools as a framework for understanding the critical importance for schools to adopt alternative practices in addressing student behavior to counteract the school-to-prison pipeline that is ushered by zero-tolerance policies. Part III presents the practice of restorative justice in schools by providing a foundation for understanding the emergence of school-based restorative justice, the philosophy of restorative justice, and models of restorative justice in schools. Part III also discusses preliminary data collected from school-based restorative programs. Part IV contextualizes the school-based restorative justice practice in the Denver Public School District. This article concludes in Part V with reflections on the need for reform of punitive schools’ discipline policies as integral to a fight for educational equity.