EDUCATION UNDER ARREST: - Justice Policy Institute

EDUCATION UNDER ARREST 11Survey, School Safety and Discipline componentfound that presence of security guards in schoolshas no relationship to school violence 30 and the1995 School Crime Supplement to the National CrimeVictimization Survey found evidence that securityguards in schools may actually lead to moredisorder. 31In addition, a 2008 dissertation and evaluation ofthe North Carolina School Resource Officerprogram found SROs to have little effect onschool safety. SROs and principals surveyed forthe evaluation about the School Resource Officerprogram in that state both professed that eventhough students’ behavior may have changed,both groups also thought that the program didnot “create a safer school environment.” Ananalysis of school crime also found schools withSRO programs did not experience significantlydifferent mean crime rates after theimplementation of the program. 32The uneven evidence that SROs make schoolssafer or improve students’ behavior, togetherwith the risks and drawbacks of having lawenforcement in schools that include financial costand negative impacts on youth themselves, callinto question the value of keeping lawenforcement in schools as an easy response tostudent misbehavior. Schools should beencouraged to explore other means of keepingschools safe without involving law enforcement.School safety can be achievedwithout SROs or law enforcement.Research undertaken in the last few years hasshown that school safety can be improvedwithout SROs and a law enforcement approachto discipline. Maintaining safe schools is bestaccomplished by using both structure andsupport, according to studies by Dewey Cornellat the University of Virginia. High structure isdefined as rules that are strictly and fairlyenforced, while high support is having adults,not necessarily SROs, at the school beingsupporting, caring, and willing to help. A surveyof students in Virginia asked whether theirschool had those qualities, and then analyzedrates of student victimization, student-reported70Schools that are both supportive and structured report victimizationand bullying the least.60School Percentile5040302010Student VictimizationStudent-reported BullyingTeacher-reported Bullying0Low Structure andLow SupportLow Structure andHigh SupportHigh Structure andLow SupportHigh Structure andHigh SupportType of SchoolSource: Dewey Cornell and others, “Practical Findings from the Virginia High School Safety Study: Issue 1,” June 17,2011. http://youthviolence.edschool.virginia.edu/prevention/pdf/VPA_luncheon_2009_Total_Handouts.pdf