Assessing the Impact of Individual-, School, and District-Level Factors on School-Based Arrests to the Department of Juvenile Justice

• NCJ Number: 254455
• Author(s): Julie Brancale; Jennifer M. Brown; George Pesta; William Bales
• Date Published: December 2019
• Length: 66 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2013-R2-CX-0009
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored); Program/Project Description
• Award: Florida State University and Florida Department of Juvenile Justice Researcher-Practitioner Partnership Proposal to enhance evidence-based juvenile justice research and policy.

Annotation

This report presents the findings and methodology of a study that compared the characteristics of students arrested at school with those arrested in the community, the likelihood of future involvement in the juvenile justice system by arrest location, differences in student educational outcomes by arrest location, and the school and district predictors of school-based arrests.

Abstract

The study examined a cohort of youth arrested for the first time between 2004 and 2009, using data from the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice's Juvenile Justice Information System and the Florida Department of Education. The data collected and analyzed related to youth demographics, their school experiences, and the consequences of arrests for future offending. The data cover school-level and district-level data for all public Florida schools for 2004-2013 school years. Consistent with prior research, the study found that Black males and females were more likely to be arrested in school compared with their White or Hispanic counterparts. Students with learning and behavioral disabilities also were more likely to be arrested in school. In-school arrests usually involved minor offenses, such as disorderly conduct and simple assault. Florida has been focusing on ways to divert juveniles who commit minor offenses from formal processing in the juvenile justice system, notably by using civil citation. Local agencies should consider expanding this practice for minor offenses committed by students at school. Areas for future research in this area are suggested. 16 tables and 49 references