The School to Prison Pipeline

The dissertation proposal presented by Kathleen Nolan, titled "Disciplining Urban Youth:  An ethnographic study of the relationship between schools and prisons" suggests a need to disturb the structure of power that supports the school to prison pipeline sustained by our government systems.  The study will examine the relationship of dominant external forces (macro) and the lived, school and community experiences of urban youth (micro). She examines how the "zero tolerance" disciplinary policies governing NYC schools mirror those of the penal system to further project that Black and Latino youth are a problem as a result of their individual actions in order to obscure the structure of social control maintained by those in positions of power.

Purpose

The data she collects from this study will be examined through the lens of critical social theories to highlight the connection between the subjugation of economically and racially marginalized groups by policies created to maintain control over lower class population. Control over racially marginalized groups is conducted through a form of punishment or fear. Provoking fear is common practice in our justice system and the researcher's goal is to gather rich ethnographic data that supports the use of similar, punitive disciplinary actions in this school. These are common practices supported by theories of punishment derived from social theorists such as Michel Foucault and David Garland. The results can be used to highlight these disparities and recommended action to disrupt this system.

Research Questions

Dominant social forces that make the link between similar punitive and controlling practices in schools and prisons. It will also extend to the lived experiences of these students within their larger communities and examine their interactions with law enforcement to offer a complete view of the oppressive experiences students face in their daily lives.

Literature Review

A historical context is well established to describe the actions that influenced hyper-segregation of predominantly poor Black and Latino communities. Deindustrialization during the 1960's and 1970's heavily impacted working class communities, largely affecting Blacks and Latinos. This led to steep unemployment rates and subsequent eligibility for public assistance and subsidized housing. With this high influx of financial need, entire subsidized neighborhoods were now established. With these established enclaves of poor Black and Latino residents, they are strategically segregated from more privileged communities. They are economically isolated with limited financial and educational opportunities that restrict upward social mobility.

Methodology

This is an ethnographic study. It is designed to directly observe disciplinary occurrences within the school, and community. Although many conclusions can be determined from observations within the school in terms of the execution of disciplinary policies, it is also crucial to understand the types of law and order interactions students are experiencing in their surrounding communities. Similar patterns within these two settings can emerge, solidifying the argument that these punitive practices are created by structures of power and domination to control and suppress racially and economically disenfranchised communities.

Methods

The site for this ethnographical study will be a high school in the Bronx with high rates of disciplinary referrals. It was classified as "high risk" by the department of education and a contender for a zero-tolerance policy which has the capacity to summons students for typical infractions, such as disobedience toward figures of authority. Student enrollment is composed of 96% Black and Latino students with 1% classified as White. This is an ideal setting to highlight the unjust disciplinary actions imposed by this policy and how these compare to the disciplinary methods in correctional facilities. The student participants will not only be observed inside of school but also in their neighborhoods, and how their experiences with discipline and law enforcement is consistent in both settings.

Analysis

Once the ethnographical data is collected from interviews and observations, recurring themes will be identified. These recurring patterns in the data will be identified and how these connect with the specified critical theories of how structures of power intentionally suppress these marginalized communities through all facets of their daily experiences.

Prominent elements of critical social theory are consistently applied throughout each section of the dissertation proposal. The theories highlight and link with the assumption that punitive and discriminatory practices routinely target poor, Black and Latino communities. The social, economic and cultural differences of this population are not considered when developing these restrictive and punitive educational policies. The results of this study are meant to highlight these injustices and to disturb this system.