The pandemic paused the US school-to-prison pipeline: potential lessons learned

Abstract

A global pandemic caused society to radically and quickly reconfigure. Schools, wary of the health risks of in-person instruction, shifted to virtual learning. Although not ideal in many respects, this shift placed adolescents in the USA out of the reach of harsh school disciplinary procedures (ie, zero tolerance policies, out-of-school suspensions, expulsions, and law enforcement referrals), contributing to a drastic reduction in juvenile court referrals nationally. The school-to-prison pipeline paused.