IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/irlaec/v43y2015icp98-106.html

School suspension and the school-to-prison pipeline

Author

Listed:
  • Cuellar, Alison Evans
  • Markowitz, Sara

Abstract

Schools have many available strategies to address problem behavior among students. One option increasingly used by schools is to suspend problem youth and remove them for defined periods. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether this type of disciplinary policy has unintended consequences by giving problem youth greater opportunity to commit crimes outside of school. Previous studies have looked at the “incapacitation” effect of school holidays and teacher strike days, but these studies do not directly address the relevant school policy decisions. The current study relies on administrative data from a school district and a juvenile justice system. The results indicate that out-of-school suspension may increase criminal offending behavior by problem youth, more than doubling the probability of arrest. The effect is particularly large among African American youth, relative to Whites.

Suggested Citation

  • Cuellar, Alison Evans & Markowitz, Sara, 2015. "School suspension and the school-to-prison pipeline," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 98-106.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:irlaec:v:43:y:2015:i:c:p:98-106
    DOI: 10.1016/j.irle.2015.06.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014481881500040X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.irle.2015.06.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gary S. Becker, 1974. "Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach," NBER Chapters, in: Essays in the Economics of Crime and Punishment, pages 1-54, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Julie Berry Cullen & Brian A Jacob & Steven Levitt, 2006. "The Effect of School Choice on Participants: Evidence from Randomized Lotteries," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 74(5), pages 1191-1230, September.
    3. Manuel Trajtenberg & Gil Shiff & Ran Melamed, 2009. "The "Names Game": Harnessing Inventors, Patent Data for Economic Research," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 93-94, pages 67-77.
    4. Kinsler, Josh, 2011. "Understanding the black–white school discipline gap," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 1370-1383.
    5. Brian A. Jacob & Lars Lefgren, 2003. "Are Idle Hands the Devil's Workshop? Incapacitation, Concentration, and Juvenile Crime," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(5), pages 1560-1577, December.
    6. D. Mark Anderson, 2014. "In School and Out of Trouble? The Minimum Dropout Age and Juvenile Crime," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 96(2), pages 318-331, May.
    7. Josh Kinsler, 2013. "School Discipline: A Source Or Salve For The Racial Achievement Gap?," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 54(1), pages 355-383, February.
    8. Edward P. Lazear, 2001. "Educational Production," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 116(3), pages 777-803.
    9. Luallen, Jeremy, 2006. "School's out... forever: A study of juvenile crime, at-risk youths and teacher strikes," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 75-103, January.
    10. Gary Chamberlain, 1980. "Analysis of Covariance with Qualitative Data," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 47(1), pages 225-238.
    11. Raffo, Julio & Lhuillery, Stéphane, 2009. "How to play the "Names Game": Patent retrieval comparing different heuristics," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 1617-1627, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Folorunso Obayemi Temitope Obasuyi & Rajah Rasiah & Santha Chenayah, 2020. "Identification of Measurement Variables for Understanding Vulnerability to Education Inequality in Developing Countries: A Conceptual Article," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(2), pages 21582440209, May.
    2. Dong, Beidi & Krohn, Marvin D., 2020. "The effects of parental school exclusion on offspring drug use: An intergenerational path analysis," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    3. Dave, Dhaval M., 2016. "Causal effects of mental health treatment on education outcomes for youth in the justice systemAuthor-Name: Cuellar, Alison," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 321-339.
    4. Welsh, Richard O. & Little, Shafiqua, 2018. "Caste and control in schools: A systematic review of the pathways, rates and correlates of exclusion due to school discipline," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 315-339.
    5. Wingert, Anne C. & Lehmann, Peter S. & Azimi, Andia M., 2025. "The intersection of formal labeling and child maltreatment in young adult offending," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    6. Billings, Stephen B. & Phillips, David C., 2017. "Why do kids get into trouble on school days?," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 16-24.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Shannon Ward & Jenny Williams & Jan C. van Ours, 2021. "Delinquency, Arrest and Early School Leaving," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 83(2), pages 411-436, April.
    2. Wang, Chuhong & Liu, Xingfei & Yan, Zizhong & Zhao, Yi, 2022. "Higher education expansion and crime: New evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    3. Heidi Kaila & Saurabh Singhal & Divya Tuteja, 2017. "Do fences make good neighbours?: Evidence from an insurgency in India," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-158, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Brian Bell & Rui Costa & Stephen Machin, 2022. "Why Does Education Reduce Crime?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 130(3), pages 732-765.
    5. Rud, I & Van Klaveren, C. & Groot, W. and Maassen van den Brink, H., 2013. "Education and Youth Crime: a Review of the Empirical Literature," Working Papers 48, Top Institute for Evidence Based Education Research.
    6. Stephen Machin & Matteo Sandi, 2025. "Crime and Education," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 17(1), pages 241-260, August.
    7. van Ours, Jan C. & Williams, Jenny & Ward, Shannon, 2015. "Bad Behavior: Delinquency, Arrest and Early School Leaving," CEPR Discussion Papers 10755, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    8. Barua, Rashmi & Hoefer-Martí, Ian & Vidal-Fernandez, Marian, 2024. "Wheeling into school and out of crime: Evidence from linking driving licenses to minimum academic requirements," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 217(C), pages 334-377.
    9. O’Flaherty, Brendan & Sethi, Rajiv, 2015. "Urban Crime," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 1519-1621, Elsevier.
    10. Md. Abdur Rahman Forhad, 2021. "Minimum Dropout Age and Juvenile Crime in the USA," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 47(3), pages 378-405, June.
    11. repec:tir:wpaper:50 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Ylenia Brilli & Marco Tonello, 2015. "The contemporaneous effect of education on adolescent crime. Mechanisms and evidence from regional divides," CHILD Working Papers Series 41 JEL Classification: I2, Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic Economics (CHILD) - CCA.
    13. Fallesen, Peter & Geerdsen, Lars Pico & Imai, Susumu & Tranæs, Torben, 2018. "The effect of active labor market policies on crime: Incapacitation and program effects," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 263-286.
    14. Rasmus Landersø & Helena Skyt Nielsen & Marianne Simonsen, 2017. "School Starting Age and the Crime‐age Profile," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 127(602), pages 1096-1118, June.
    15. Ylenia Brilli & Marco Tonello, 2018. "Does Increasing Compulsory Education Decrease or Displace Adolescent Crime? New Evidence from Administrative and Victimization Data," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 64(1), pages 15-49.
    16. Andrew Bacher-Hicks & Stephen B. Billings & David J. Deming, 2024. "The School-to-Prison Pipeline: Long-Run Impacts of School Suspensions on Adult Crime," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 16(4), pages 165-193, November.
    17. Chao Fu & Nicolás Grau & Jorge Rivera, 2022. "Wandering astray: Teenagers' choices of schooling and crime," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 13(2), pages 387-424, May.
    18. Bernt Bratsberg & Øystein Hernæs & Simen Markussen & Oddbjørn Raaum & Knut Røed, 2019. "Welfare Activation and Youth Crime," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(4), pages 561-574, October.
    19. Ferguson, Neil T.N. & Nillesen, Eleonora & Brück, Tilman, 2019. "Can employment build peace? A pseudo-meta-analysis of employment programmes in Africa," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 99-101.
    20. Randi Hjalmarsson & Lance Lochner, 2012. "The Impact of Education on Crime: International Evidence," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 10(02), pages 49-55, August.
    21. Randi Hjalmarsson & Helena Holmlund & Matthew J. Lindquist, 2015. "The Effect of Education on Criminal Convictions and Incarceration: Causal Evidence from Micro‐data," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 125(587), pages 1290-1326, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:irlaec:v:43:y:2015:i:c:p:98-106. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/irle .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.