Dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline: The Philadelphia police school diversion program. (June 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Goldstein, Naomi E.S.; Cole, Lindsey M.; Houck, Mark; Haney-Caron, Emily; Holliday, Stephanie Brooks; Kreimer, Rena; Bethel, Kevin
• Is Part Of: Children and youth services review. Volume 101(2019)
• Page Start: 61
• Page End: 69
• Publication Date: 2019-06
• Subjects: Social work with children -- Periodicals; Social work with youth -- Periodicals; Adolescent -- Periodicals; Child Welfare -- Periodicals; Social Work -- Periodicals; Service social aux enfants -- Périodiques; Service social à la jeunesse -- Périodiques; Electronic journals; 362.705
• DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2019.03.022
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0190-7409

Abstract

Abstract: Exclusionary discipline practices have made schools among the primary referral sources to the juvenile justice system, helping create and perpetuate the school-to-prison pipeline. To dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline in Philadelphia, the City's police department initiated the Philadelphia Police School Diversion Program and collaborated with the City's school district, Department of Human Services (DHS), and other child-serving agencies to design and implement the program. This program diverts at-risk youth from school-based arrest and into community-based services to address identified needs. All students, ages 10 and older, without prior adjudications or open cases, who have committed designated summary or misdemeanor offenses on school grounds, are enrolled in this program and connected with a DHS-sponsored service provider—rather than facing arrest and automatic removal from school through suspension, expulsion, or disciplinary transfer. The Philadelphia Police School Diversion Program has been cited as a model of collaborative partnerships to address the school-to-prison pipeline. This paper describes the school-to-prison pipeline's creation; established diversionary efforts to keep students out of the justice system; and the development, procedures, implications, and limitations of the Philadelphia Police School Diversion Program.