882 Arrests in New York City Public Schools Last Year

95 percent of arrests were of blacks and Hispanics

The New York Police Department, the pioneer of COMPSTAT, which uses statistics to help fight crime, did not start releasing data on arrests made in New York City's public schools until a city law passed in 2010. That law had been first proposed in 2008, but languished in the City Council while New York City's legislators decided to extend term limits for themselves instead (an extension which allowed Michael Bloomberg  to run for, and barely win despite a significant monetary advantage, a third term in office). A lawsuit by the NYCLU alleging the use of excessive force, abrogation of due process, unwarranted searches and seizures and police brutality in the city's schools was filed in January 2010, likely the impetus to finally act on the "Safe Schools Act," which ended up passing the city council unanimously.

With the first full school year of data available, the NYCLU (whose lawsuit is still pending) analyzed the data released through the law to find that the NYPD's "School Safety Division" arrested an average of four students a day and handing out about seven citations a day. According to the NYCLU, upward of 95 percent of the arrests were of black or Hispanic students, 74 percent were boys, and a full 20 percent were between the ages of 11 and 14, meaning at least 165 students arrested last year were 14 or younger.

The NYCLU points out there are more than 5,000 police officers in the New York City school system, more than the total amount of guidance counselors and social workers combined and notes a full 64 percent of summonses issued in the school year were for "disorderly conduct."

The NYPD's data is available here.

Comments

[Rich]

upward of 95 percent of the arrests were of black or Hispanic students

Half the city's 1,600-plus schools are over 90 percent black and Hispanic.

Starting to see a *bit* of a pattern ....

[Sidd Finch]

"World to End; Women, Minorities Hardest Hit"

[ant1sthenes]

When you let Democrats completely dominate politics in a city, you get segregation?

[Landyn]

Abe Lincoln was a republican.. In facts the roles of demopublicans and republicrats have changed on race issues. I think you view is narrowing to parties rather than profits. Aren't there some huge financial institutions in NY? I wonder how the prison industial complex is doing in NY? When you let monied interests dominate politics in a city you get a school to prison pipeline... follow the money...

[ShagNasty]

This makes me think of labeling theory, a sociological theory that says that the way society responds to deviant behavior prepetuates that behavior by affecting how people who exhibit those behaviors think about themselves. Think about this scenario for a second. A kid is 12 years old. He's heard his whole life that criminals are bad and they do bad things. he gets in a little trouble at school and after he gets told how bad he is by the teacher and the principal, he gets arrested. Society basically just gave that kid the most powerful signal that it can that he is a bad person. The effect is the the opposite of what is intended by the school system and the police. The kid feels resenful because of how harsh his punishment is. He's been aggressively shamed by his school, the police, and probably his parents. You now have a kid who thinks of himself as a criminal and the behavior that the authorities were trying to disincentivise has become part of the kid's Identity.

[Ed]

+100

[Sidd Finch]

Labeling theory regarding kids who grow up on the wrong side of the tracks, who rarely interact with people with middle class values, is perfectly valid.

Labeling theory that proposes a single arrest at 12 years old is more likely to propel someone towards a life of crime than deter the kid from doing the thing that leads to arrest ... that's retarded.

[The Late P Brooks]

The NYCLU points out there are more than 5,000 police officers in the New York City school system, more than the total amount of guidance counselors and social workers combined and notes a full 64 percent of summonses issued in the school year were for "disorderly conduct." RUNNING IN THE HALL.

Jesus. And people try to tell me it would be a bad thing if the seas rose and swallowed up the island of Manhattan.

[LarryA]

handcuffs - check
pepper spray - check
baton - check
taser - check
handgun - check

Good thing we got rid of all those barbaric wooden boards teachers used to have. They taught kids about violence.

[Eduard van Haalen]

I believe that the ACLU once held forth the NY school system as a model of "due process" for students who got in trouble.

I wonder if there's any connection between the increased court-like procedures imposed in the school discipline system, and the numerous hurdles the school needs to go through to discipline students, and the reaction of "what the heck, let's hand them over to the police, save ourselves the hassle."

[Sidd Finch]

This article is focused on how fucking retarded " upward of 95 percent of the arrests were of black or Hispanic students, 74 percent were boys" is. But there's also a lot on how legalistic basic school discipline has become.

[TangaBooo]

Must really suck to be a kid now days, jsut cant have any fun at all anymore lol.

http://www.Anon-at.tk

[Flemur]

"74 percent were boys"

The sexism is obvious.

The Obama administration undermines classroom order in pursuit of phantom racism.

[neohiobiker]

What do you expect when your trying to teach children that only have Uncles lots of uncles.