An influential literature in criminology has identified indirect “collateral consequences” of mass imprisonment. We extend this criminological perspective to the context of the U.S. education system, conceptualizing exclusionary discipline practices (i.e., out-of-school suspension) as a manifestation of intensified social control in schools. Similar to patterns of family and community decline associated with mass incarceration, we theorize that exclusionary discipline policies have indirect adverse effects on non-suspended students in punitive schools. Using a large hierarchical and longitudinal dataset consisting of student and school records, we examine the effect of suspension on reading and math achievement. Our findings suggest that higher levels of exclusionary discipline within schools over time generate collateral damage, negatively affecting the academic achievement of non-suspended students in punitive contexts. This effect is strongest in schools with high levels of exclusionary discipline and schools with low levels of violence, although the adverse effect of exclusionary discipline is evident in even the most disorganized and hostile school environments. Our results level a strong argument against excessively punitive school policies and suggest the need for alternative means of establishing a disciplined environment through social integration.
AlexanderKarlEntwisleDoris R.ThompsonMaxine S.1987. “School Performance, Status Relations, and the Structure of Sentiment: Bringing the Teacher Back In.” American Sociological Review52(5):665–82.
2.
AllisonPaul D.2009. Fixed Effects Regression Models. Los Angeles: Sage.
3.
AndersonElijah. 1999. Code of the Street: Decency, Violence and the Moral Life of the Inner City. New York: Norton.
4.
AndreasenKaren E.RasmussenAnnetteYdesenChristian. 2013. “Standardized Testing.” Pp. 737–40 in Sociology of Education: An A-to-Z Guide, Vol. 19, edited by AinsworthJ.Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. Retrieved January16, 2014 (http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781452276151.n386).
5.
ArciaEmily. 2006. “Achievement and Enrollment Status of Suspended Students: Outcomes in a Large, Multicultural School District.” Education and Urban Society38(3):359–69.
6.
ArumRichard. 2003. Judging School Discipline: The Crisis of Moral Authority. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
7.
AudSusanFoxMary AnnKewalRamaniAngelina. 2010. Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Groups (NCES 2010–015). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
8.
BeckettKatherineHerbertSteve. 2010. Banished: The New Social Control in Urban America. New York: Oxford University Press.
9.
BerendsMarkLucasSamuel R.PenalozaRoberto V.2008. “How Changes in Families and Schools Are Related to Trends in Black-White Test Scores.” Sociology of Education81(4):313–44.
10.
BramanDonald. 2002. “Families and Incarceration.” Pp. 117–35 in Invisible Punishment: The Collateral Consequences of Mass Imprisonment, edited by MauerM.Chesney-LindM.New York: The New Press.
11.
ClearTodd R.2007. Imprisoning Communities: How Mass Incarceration Makes Disadvantaged Neighborhoods Worse. New York: Oxford University Press.
12.
CohenStanley. 1985. Visions of Social Control. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
13.
ColemanJames S.1988. “Social Capital and the Creation of Human Capital.” American Journal of Sociology94:S95–S120.
14.
ComfortMegan. 2008. Doing Time Together: Love and Family in the Shadow of the Prison. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
15.
ContenbaderVirginiaMarksonSamia. 1998. “School Suspension: A Study with Secondary School Students.” Journal of School Psychology36(1):59–82.
16.
DavisJames E.JordanWill J.1994. “The Effects of School Context, Structure, and Experiences on African American Males in Middle and High Schools.” Journal of Negro Education63(4):570–87.
17.
DurkheimEmile. [1925] 1973. Moral Education. New York: Macmillan.
18.
FergusonAnn Arnett. 2000. Bad Boys: Public Schools in the Making of Black Masculinity. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
19.
FoucaultMichel. [1977] 1995. Discipline and Punish, 2nd ed. Translated by A. Sheridan.New York: Vintage.
20.
GamoranAdam. 1987. “The Stratification of High School Learning Opportunities.” Sociology of Education60(3):135–55.
21.
GarlandDavid. 1990. Punishment and Modern Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
22.
GarlandDavid. 2001. The Culture of Control: Crime and Social Order in Contemporary Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
23.
GoffmanAlice. 2009. “On the Run: Wanted Men in a Philadelphia Ghetto.” American Sociological Review74(3):339–57.
24.
GoffmanErving. 1963. Stigma: Notes on the Management of a Spoiled Identity. New York: Simon and Schuster.
25.
HaganJohnFosterHolly. 2012. “Intergenerational Educational Effects of Mass Imprisonment in America.” Sociology of Education85(3):259–86.
26.
HarrisAlexesEvansHeatherBeckettKatherine. 2011. “Courtesy Stigma and Monetary Sanctions: Toward a Socio-Cultural Theory of Punishment.” American Sociological Review76(2):234–64.
27.
HernandezDonald J.2011. “Double Jeopardy: How Third Grade Reading Skills and Poverty Influence High School Graduation.” Baltimore, MD: The Annie E. Casey Foundation.
28.
HirschfieldPaul J.2008. “Preparing for Prison? The Criminalization of School Discipline in the USA.” Theoretical Criminology12(1):79–101.
29.
JenkinsPatricia H.1997. “School Delinquency and the School Social Bond.” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency34(3):337–67.
30.
KirkDavid S.MatsudaMauri. 2011. “Legal Cynicism, Collective Efficacy, and the Ecology of Arrest.” Criminology49(2):443–72.
31.
KirkDavid S.PapachristosAndrew V.2011. “Cultural Mechanisms and the Persistence of Neighborhood Violence.” American Journal of Sociology116(4):1190–1233.
32.
KirkDavid S.SampsonRobert J.2013. “Juvenile Arrest and Collateral Educational Damage in the Transition to Adulthood.” Sociology of Education86(1):36–62.
33.
KupchikAaron. 2010. Homeroom Security: School Discipline in an Age of Fear. New York: New York University Press.
34.
LeeValerie E.BrykAnthony S.1989. “A Multilevel Model of the Social Distribution of High School Achievement.” Sociology of Education62(3):172–92.
35.
LiptonDouglas S.MartinsonRobertWilksJudith. 1975. The Effectiveness of Correctional Treatment: A Survey of Treatment Evaluation Studies. New York: Praeger.
36.
LosenDaniel J.2011. Discipline Policies, Successful Schools, and Racial Justice. Boulder, CO: National Education Policy Center.
37.
LosenDaniel J.GillespieJonathan. 2012. Opportunities Suspended: The Disparate Impact of Disciplinary Exclusion from School. Los Angeles: The Civil Rights Project.
38.
MauerMarcChesney-LindMeda, eds. 2002. Invisible Punishment: The Collateral Consequences of Mass Imprisonment. New York: The Free Press.
39.
McNeelyClea A.NonnemakerJames M.BlumRobert W.2002. “Promoting School Connectedness: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.” Journal of School Health72(4):138–46.
40.
MorrisEdward W.2005. “‘Tuck in that Shirt!’: Race, Class, Gender, and Discipline in an Urban School.” Sociological Perspectives48(1):25–48.
41.
MorrisMonique W.2012. Race, Gender, and the School to Prison Pipeline: Expanding Our Discussion to Include Black Girls. New York: African American Policy Forum.
42.
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).2014. Retrieved June2, 2014 (http://nces.ed.gov/).
43.
NogueraPedro A.2003. “Schools, Prisons, and Social Implications of Punishment: Rethinking Disciplinary Practices.” Theory into Practice42(4):341–50.
44.
NolanKathleen. 2011. Police in the Hallways: Discipline in an Urban School. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
45.
RauschM. KaregaSkibaRussell J.2004. Unplanned Outcomes: Suspensions and Expulsions in Indiana. Bloomington: Indiana University, Center for Evaluation and Education Policy.
46.
RiosVictor M.2011. Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys. New York: New York University Press.
47.
Schwartz-SoicherOfiraGellerAmandaGarfinkelIrwin. 2011. “The Effect of Paternal Incarceration on Material Hardship.” Social Service Review85(3):447–73.
48.
SharkeyPatrick T.Tirado-StrayerNicolePapachristosAndrew V.RaverC. Cybele. 2012. “The Effect of Local Violence on Children’s Attention and Impulse Control.” American Journal of Public Health102(12):2287–93.
49.
SimonJonathan. 2007. Governing through Crime: How the War on Crime Transformed American Democracy and Created a Culture of Fear. New York: Oxford University Press.
50.
SkibaRussell J.2000. “Zero Tolerance, Zero Evidence: An Analysis of School Disciplinary Practice.” Bloomington, IN: Education Policy Center.
51.
SkibaRussell J.PetersonReece L.1999. “The Dark Side of Zero Tolerance: Can Punishment Lead to Safe Schools?”Phi Delta Kappan80(5):372–82.
52.
StataCorp. 2013. Stata Statistical Software: Release 13. College Station, TX: StataCorp LP.
53.
SteeleClaude M.AronsonJoshua. 1995. “Stereotype Threat and the Intellectual Test Performance of African Americans.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology69(5):797–811.
54.
TylerTom R.2006. Why People Obey the Law. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
55.
U.S. Department of Education. 2007. Household Education Surveys Program. National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved September2, 2014 (http://nces.ed.gov/nhes/index.asp).
ValenzuelaAngela. 1999. Subtractive Schooling: U.S.-Mexican Youth and the Politics of Caring. Albany: State University of New York Press.
58.
WakefieldSaraWildemanChristopher. 2013. Children of the Prison Boom. New York: Oxford University Press.
59.
WelchKellyPayneAllison Ann. 2010. “Racial Threat and Punitive School Discipline.” Social Problems57(1):25–48.
60.
WesternBruce. 2006. Punishment and Inequality in America. New York: Russell Sage.
61.
WesternBrucePettitBeckyGuetzkowJosh. 2002. “Black Economic Progress in the Era of Mass Imprisonment.” Pp. 165–80 in Invisible Punishment: The Collateral Consequences of Mass Imprisonment, edited by MauerM.Chesney-LindM.New York: The New Press.
62.
WildemanChristopher. 2010. “Paternal Incarceration and Children’s Physically Aggressive Behaviors: Evidence from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study.” Social Forces89(1):285–309.
63.
WildemanChristopherSchnittkerJasonTurneyKristin. 2012. “Despair by Association? The Mental Health of Mothers with Children by Recently Incarcerated Fathers.” American Sociological Review77(2):216–43.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
