School Police Reform: A Public Health Imperative

Abstract

Out of the twin pandemics currently gripping the United States¬—deaths of unarmed Black victims at the hands of police and racialized health inequities resulting from COVID-19—an antiracist health equity agenda has emerged that identifies racism as a public health crisis. Likewise, calls for reform of school policing by those advocating for civil rights, racial justice, and Black Lives Matter have simultaneously intensified. Yet each remains siloed, despite the natural connection and implicit overlap between these separate movements and debates. Indeed, there are documented negative health effects of school policing for Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC) youth. But these have gone largely ignored or underemphasized by the movement to reform school police. Similarly, the racial health equity movement has overlooked race-conscious health equity reforms to school policing. This Article aims to fill the gap by connecting these distinct movements and debates and articulating a public-health-based response to school policing.