Ending School-to-Prison Pipeline

SLN #: 11926
Course Prefix: LAW-791
Course Section: 006
Credit Hours: 3
Instructor(s): Buel
Course Books: View List of Books

Course Description:
The school-to-prison pipeline (STPP) lies at the confluence of race, criminal, and education law as system-involved youth are harmed by unnecessarily punitive policies that trigger disproportionate dropout and incarceration rates. Many schools subject indigent youth of color to excessive suspensions, expulsions, arrest, push-out, and zero-tolerance policies for minor disciplinary infractions. The resulting school-to-prison pipeline is devastating for the targeted youth, their families, and their communities. The seminar will examine the education system’s structural and procedural discriminatory practices that reflect significant violations of children’s fundamental human and civil rights. After evaluating comparative criminal justice and education approaches through the lenses of race and poverty law, students will study evidence-based practices to disrupt the STPP. Topics will include The Criminalization of School Misconduct; Title IX, Dating Violence & Sexual Assault; Legal Rights in Special Education; Neuroscience, Traumatic Brain Injury & the Role of Cumulative Trauma in Youth Behavior; The Role of Lawyers in Ending STPP; Positive Rights in Education Law; Restorative Justice & Dispute Resolution; and related matters.

Additional Information:
Credit Hours: 3
Grading Option: Letter Grade Only
Graduation Writing Requirement: Yes*
Flexible/Upper-Level Writing Requirement: Yes*
Skills Requirement: No
Simulation Course: No
Note: Only one of the above listed requirements can be fulfilled with this course.
Experiential Learning: No
Seminar: No
Special Withdrawal Course: No
Final Exam Given: No
Attendance Policy: Per Statement Of Student Policies

* The law school has a policy that is used to calculate credit hours. Please see the Statement of Student Policies.