Where Protection Meets Punishment: Public Education and the Carceral State in Urban America

Abstract

This essay calls upon scholars in the largely siloed fields of history of education and carceral studies to examine the history of American education and criminal legal systems in tandem rather than in isolation from one another. In introducing the special section’s articles, it proposes a new template for historicizing the “school-to-prison pipeline” in particular and the intertwined evolution of the state’s protective, preventative, and punitive power more broadly. Specifically, the essay discusses how the carceral state both moved into and emerged from within public schools prior to and following the 1960s and 1970s. It also notes that the relationship between public education and the carceral state evolved in highly localized and contingent ways based upon the actions of individuals, organizations, and institutions at the community, state, and federal level. The essay concludes with a discussion of considerations for further research.