An Analysis of the Legal and Ethical Dimensions of Zero-Tolerance Court Decisions in K-12 Public Education
Open Access
- Author:
- Mackey, Hollie Jonel
- Graduate Program:
- Educational Leadership
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- March 24, 2010
- Committee Members:
- Jacqueline A Stefkovich, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Jacqueline A Stefkovich, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Dr Preston Green Iii, Committee Member
David Alexander Gamson, Committee Member
Nancy A Tuana, Committee Member
Dr Anthony Normore, Committee Member - Keywords:
- school safety and order
school discipline
ethics
education policy
education law
zero-tolerance
school violence
restorative justice - Abstract:
- Zero-tolerance policies have a short yet prolific history in American schools. Originally developed by the U.S. Customs Agency, zero tolerance was intended to target a rapidly growing drug trade. Most schools began adopting these policies in response to The Gun Free Schools Act of 1994. This mandate requires all state education agencies to develop a policy towards weapons that results in an expulsion of no less than one year. Coupled with this requirement is the stipulation that these policies must allow for the senior most administrators within a local education agency to have the discretion to modify the punishment on a case by case basis. Commentators have characterized zero tolerance as one of the most simplistic approaches to school discipline. However, school discipline data are notoriously challenging to analyze due to the many factors that contribute to school discipline in general. There is a lack of empirical evidence to support the claim the notion that zero-tolerance policies decrease violent incidents in schools or improve school safety. The message behind the policies clearly indicates that violence in schools is not tolerable under any circumstances; however there is no correlation between the message and the outcomes from policy implementation. Regardless of this, the American legal structure supports the application of these policies. This study examines the legal and ethical dimensions of zero-tolerance policies in an attempt to determine the degree to which U.S. courts have provided language suggesting discrepancies between the legal holding and the opinion following the decision.