Erik James Girvan

School-wide Positive and Restorative Discipline (SWPRD): Integrating School-wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports and Restorative Discipline

Vincent et al. introduce School-wide Positive and Restorative Discipline (SWPRD), an intervention system blending school-wide positive behavior interventions and supports with restorative practices to promote positive classroom relationships. They hypothesize that positive classroom relationships function as a conduit for greater disciplinary equity for students from vulnerable groups defined by race/ethnicity and sexual orientation. Results from a pilot test in one high school show that after the introduction of SWPRD, teachers reported greater use of restorative practices in their classrooms, there was a reduction of the impact of race/ethnicity and sexual orientation on student perceptions of fairness and bullying and harassment, and there was a reduction in both numbers of office discipline referrals and racial disparities. The authors conclude by highlighting the importance of creating positive classroom environments to reduce disciplinary disparities.

The Relative Contribution of Subjective Office Referrals to Racial Disproportionality in School Discipline

To improve our understanding of where to target interventions, the study examined the extent to which school discipline disproportionality between African American and White students was attributable to racial disparities in teachers’ discretionary versus nondiscretionary decisions. The sample consisted of office discipline referral (ODR) records for 1,154,686 students enrolled in 1,824 U.S. schools. Analyses compared the relative contributions of disproportionality in ODRs for subjectively and objectively defined behaviors to overall disproportionality, controlling for relevant school characteristics. Results showed that disproportionality in subjective ODRs explained the vast majority of variance in total disproportionality. These findings suggest that providing educators with strategies to neutralize the effects of implicit bias, which is known to influence discretionary decisions and interpretations of ambiguous behaviors, may be a promising avenue for achieving equity in school discipline.

Vulnerable Decision Points for Disproportionate Office Discipline Referrals: Comparisons of Discipline for African American and White Elementary School Students:

Racial disparities in rates of exclusionary school discipline are well documented and seemingly intractable. However, emerging theories on implicit bias show promise in identifying effective interventions. In this study, we used school discipline data from 1,666 elementary schools and 483,686 office discipline referrals to identify specific situations in which disproportionality was more likely. Results were largely consistent with our theoretical model, indicating increased racial and gender disproportionality for subjectively defined behaviors, in classrooms, and for incidents classified as more severe. The time of day also substantially affected disproportionality. These findings can be used to pinpoint specific student-teacher interactions for intervention.

Rethinking the Economic Model of Deterrence: How Insights from Empirical Social Science Could Affect Policies Towards Crime and Punishment

Game-theoretic models incorporating neo-classical economic assumptions can be a powerful tool for identifying and analyzing issues relevant to legal policy. In this paper I argue that, where those assumptions are deficient, the efficacy of and insights from such models can be improved by incorporating insights from experimental social sciences. Following this paradigm, I propose an expansion of the neo-classical deterrence model of criminal behavior to incorporate, as reputation effects, social scientific theory regarding the effects of in-group norms on behavior. Analysis of the expanded model shows that there are material differences between the classic and expanded models in predictions, the latter of which are more consistent with macro-level observations. I then discuss some substantive implications of the predictions of the expanded model for criminal legal policy.

Using Discipline Data to Enhance Equity in School Discipline

There is a longstanding and pressing challenge regarding overuse of exclusionary discipline (e.g., office discipline referrals, suspensions) for students of color and students with disabilities. Moreover, many common efforts to address the problem have not been shown to enhance equity in school discipline. This article describes a promising four-step approach, described in the freely available PBIS Disproportionality Data Guide, for using school discipline data to identify specific interactions that are more susceptible to the effects of implicit bias on decision making and change the environment to meet the needs of all students. A case study is included that identified disproportionality for physical aggression on the playground as a primary source of overall disproportionality and implemented a plan that included elements of explicit instruction and cultural responsiveness. Results showed a consistent decrease in discipline disproportionality over time.

Tail, Tusk, and Trunk: An Examination of What Different Metrics Reveal about Racial Disproportionality in School Discipline

There are substantial racial disparities in school discipline but little agreement on how best to measure them. The choice of metric can influence fundamental conclusions about the magnitude of racial disproportionality and which interventions are likely to address it. To inform the choice of metrics, this study used discipline data from a national sample of schools (N = 4,512) to examine the strengths and weaknesses of two common (risk ratio, risk difference) and three relatively novel (standardized effect size, raw differential representation, and discipline rate) approaches to assessing racial disproportionality. The raw number of students-of-color differentially disciplined was the most stable metric and captured the widest range of information. None of the metrics captured all relevant aspects of disproportionate discipline. Researchers and policy makers should be as deliberate as possible about their specific aims in measuring disproportionality and carefully select metrics that provide the information most responsive to their goals.

Book Review: Psychological Science in the Courtroom: Consensus and ControversySkeemJ.DouglasK. S.LilienfeldS. O. (Eds.) Psychological Science in the Courtroom: Consensus and ControversyNew York, NY: The Guilford Press, 2009. xiv, 418 pp.

employee’s freedom of exercise in an unemployment case—a first—but Justice Scalia’s majority opinion, suggested that it was not the function of the court to hear every individual challenge to religious freedom. Rather, ‘‘their [religious minorities] only hope lay in the state legislatures and Congress, which could, if they chose, protect religious belief’’ (p. 201). This book is an exhaustive account of not just this case and the constitutionality of free exercise, but also of the players involved—Al Smith and Galen Black, the peyotists and drug counselors whose employment termination became the basis for the case, as well as Dave Frohmayer, former Oregon Attorney General, gubernatorial candidate and President of the University of Oregon. Through detailed interviews, historical research, and legal reasoning, Epps details every aspect of Smith from the original motivations of the plaintiffs to stare decisis, its legal precedent. Along the way, Epps draws the reader into a history of the broad and multifaceted Native American Church; Oregon’s remarkably different take on religious freedom versus that of the federal government; ideological shifts on the U.S. Supreme Court and their impact on subsequent rulings; and finally, the checks and balances war that breaks out between the Court and Congress following Smith. Epps, a law professor by profession, clearly enjoys the drama this case provides and he embraces his role like that of an indigenous storyteller. As much as Peyote v. the State is a serious discussion of how religious freedom has been framed by the courts, it is also a vehicle for Epps to tell stories, fill in the blanks on gaps in the historical record of Smith and also provide an avenue for him to share his beliefs about the current makeup of the Court, as well as in years past. Epps’ research is so thorough that the reader is exposed to a plethora of characters that usually do not make their way into popular retelling of the case. These range from Stanley Smart, the Native American ‘‘road man’’ who first introduced Al Smith to the ways of the Native American Church (among them the use of ‘‘Grandfather Peyote’’); to Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh aka Osho, the Indian holy man who moved his international base of operations from India to Oregon and created a political nightmare for the state. But Epps’ enthusiasm also comes with a price. Sometimes, his character descriptions border on the sophomoric and take away from the seriousness of the subject. So, when he describes Chief Justice Earl Warren as a ‘‘genial former politician’’ (p. 105) and Associate Justice William Brennan a ‘‘jovial Irish-American imp’’ (p. 105), one is left questioning his choice of words. This is most resonant later in the book when he lays into Justice Scalia and his breaking with precedent. Epps refers to him as ‘‘the faithful Catholic and father of nine . . . an unlikely antichrist’’ (p. 207). In conclusion, this is a fine book and a detailed study of the Native American church as well as the evolution of claims of religious freedoms in the United States at the federal level and also for states. With that said, however, it is not an appropriate text in the field of criminal justice because of the limited applicability. The ideal audience would be teachers and students in political science and public law.