Kelly Welch

Exclusionary School Punishment The Effect of Racial Threat on Expulsion and Suspension

Schools today frequently resort to punishments that exclude students from the classroom, such as expulsion, suspension, and in-school suspension, much like the criminal justice system excludes criminals from greater society. Although prior research testing the racial threat hypothesis has found that racial composition is associated with the use of more punitive criminal punishment and harsher student discipline, no threat research to date has assessed the possibility that school-level racial composition affects the likelihood that specific exclusionary student punishments will be implemented. Using a national random sample of schools, this study is the first to test and support the racial threat perspective in relation to the use of expulsion and suspension, finding that zero tolerance policies often contribute to this effect.

Restorative Justice in Schools The Influence of Race on Restorative Discipline

Schools today are more frequently using punitive discipline practices to control student behavior, despite the greater effectiveness of community-building techniques on compliance that are based on restorative justice principles found in the criminal justice system. Prior research testing the racial threat hypothesis has found that the racial composition of schools is associated with the use of more punitive and less reparative approaches to discipline, just as it has been associated with criminal justice harshness. However, no research to date has assessed the possibility that school-level racial composition may affect the likelihood that specific restorative justice techniques, which are the most commonly used alternative, will be implemented. This study is the first to test the racial threat perspective in relation to use of the restorative practices student conferences, peer mediation, restitution, and community service. Using a national random sample in logistic regression analyses, we find that schools with proportionally more Black students are less likely to use such techniques when responding to student behavior. This finding has several troubling implications for minority students in particular and for education as a whole.

Parental Status and Punitiveness: Moderating Effects of Gender and Concern About Crime

Previously identified predictors of public punitiveness include attitudinal, experiential, background, and demographic characteristics. Given the influence of parenthood on certain attitudes and beliefs, it may also affect how strongly individuals endorse harsh punishment for criminals. Few studies have explored how parenthood influences general policy preferences or support for criminal justice measures specifically, and findings have been mixed. The author estimated linear ordinary least squares regression equations, using national random telephone survey data, to test for direct effects of parenthood on measures of punitive attitudes toward juveniles and adults and overall. Two- and three-way interactions with gender and concern about crime were also estimated, and although the additive effects of parenthood on punitiveness were significant only for attitudes toward adult offenders, gender and concern about crime moderated its effects on punitive policy support, with fathers and parents for whom crime was less salient being more punitive. These findings suggest that research testing only linear influences may overlook more complex relationships.

Racial Crime Stereotypes and Offender Juvenility: Comparing Public Views About Youth-Specific and Nonyouth-Specific Sanctions

Recent theoretical advancements of the racial threat model of punitiveness suggest that because youthful offending has driven crime trends in recent decades, and because racially exclusive conceptions of childhood have historically structured public opinion on juvenile justice, Black criminal stereotypes may be especially consequential for attitudes toward juvenile punishments. Building on this work, the current study uses national survey data to examine whether the strength of the relationship between Black criminal stereotypes and support for punitive policies varies according to whether punishments are targeted toward juvenile delinquents or criminals in general. We find that Black criminal stereotypes are positively associated with punitive attitudes and that the magnitude of this effect is statistically identical in the cases of youth-specific and nonyouth-specific sanctions. Thus, the results suggest that racialized support for punitive crime policies is not influenced by the juvenility of the offender.

The Effect of School Conditions on the Use of Restorative Justice in Schools

Previous research has demonstrated beneficial outcomes of using restorative justice techniques, rather than traditional punitive approaches, in response to student misbehavior. As with the use of restorative justice in criminal justice contexts, restorative discipline shifts the focus from punishment and isolation to reconciliation and reintegration. Although the use of restorative justice techniques has decreased student delinquency, resulted in better academic outcomes, and improved school climate, many schools today continue to implement punitive practices to control student behavior. The current research uses data from a nationally representative sample of schools to examine school conditions that influence the use of restorative responses to violence and misbehavior. Identifying the characteristics of a school that affect the likelihood that specific restorative justice techniques will be implemented can reveal opportunities for diminishing disparities, improving outcomes for students, and reducing the odds that students will subsequently become involved in the juvenile justice system.

Middle Eastern Terrorist Stereotypes and Anti-Terror Policy Support: The Effect of Perceived Minority Threat

Tests of the minority threat theoretical perspective have established that the common association made between crime and Black and Hispanic males is manifested, to some degree, in harsh approaches to crime control. Particularly since 9/11, a close association is also being made by the public between terrorism and those perceived to be of Arab or Muslim descent—a phenomenon coinciding with the implementation of intense social controls aimed at preventing terror attacks and punishing suspected terrorists. Using a national sample, this research is the first to explore the micro-level minority threat hypothesis in relation to those who are perceived to be Middle Easterners. Results of multivariate analyses indicate that those who typify terrorists as Middle Eastern are more likely to support punitive anti-terror techniques and that this relationship is more influential among those for whom the danger of terrorism is less salient. These findings not only suggest that the effects of minority threat extend beyond the racial and ethnic groups previously found to be stereotyped as law violators to others whose minority status is not as distinctly delineated, but that they also operate beyond the criminal justice institutions research has demonstrated are influenced by them. Policy implications are discussed.

The Centrality of Schools in the Lifecourse: The Case for Focusing on School-Related Influences in Developmental Theory and Research

ABSTRACT While the strength of the lifecourse/developmental (LCD) perspective in the examination of antisocial behavior has been clearly demonstrated, this work has given little attention to schools and education as salient influences. By contrast, there is much research using other theoretical frameworks to examine school-related risk factors of deviance. Given what we know about the importance of schooling and education on individual development and subsequent implications for behavior, we contend that academic influences should be more prevalent in LCD theories of deviance and that research using an LCD theoretical perspective should embrace non-LCD work examining school-related risk factors of antisocial behavior.

The Impact of Schools and Education on Antisocial Behavior over the Lifecourse

Lifecourse/developmental (LCD) perspectives and theories have gained a prominent role in the examination of antisocial behavior over the last two decades. However, much of this work does not thoroughly investigate the influence of schools and education. Although there is a large body of work investigating school-related risk factors of antisocial behavior, an area of research that aligns well with the LCD perspective, education is not a primary focus in the majority of the established LCD theories. In addition, there is little work that examines the role of schools and education through a general LCD lens. This chapter will review the research that has been conducted in each of these areas and discuss possible directions for future theoretical and methodological analysis of antisocial behavior within the LCD perspective.

Howard Zinn’s critical criminology: understanding his criminological perspective

Howard Zinn has been classified in a number of ways for his many social contributions. However, despite the breadth of his work, he has never been considered a criminologist. It is likely that this is the result of the inaccurate perceptions many Americans have about crime being a predominantly street‐level social problem. Zinn maintains that the social harms caused by those in positions of political and economic power are in fact crimes against humanity that are far more destructive and violent than the actions our legal system has historically deemed criminal. He also points to the ways our criminal justice system is unjust and ineffective, and has demonstrated how social inequality ensures that the disadvantaged will be further subordinated by the criminal justice system. Zinn’s critical contributions about the most significant sources of social harm, the unjust nature of the American justice system, and the influence of social inequality offer an unorthodox criminological perspective that deserves special consideration. His unconventional criminology calls for increasing social justice by means of political dissent, social resistance, and civil disobedience.

Book Review: Changing Attitudes to Punishment: Public Opinion, Crime, and Justice

decades. On the other hand, the sophisticated academic debate taking place in Germany regarding the determination of the legal maturity and criminal responsibility of young people points to the fact that it is not only in respect of simple age limits that British youth justice laws remain punitive and retarded. As British antisocial behavior enforcement action now contemplates the preemptive criminalization of 8-year-olds, it is reassuring that we have access to alternative European legal cultures in which a sociologically and psychologically informed and developmental approach to young peoples citizenship is at least entertained by academics. It does provide a standard to which we can aspire.