Breaking the School-to-Prison Pipeline for Students with Disabilities

Protest sign on the ground reads "Schools Not Jail"
ACLU of Southern California
In June 2015, the National Council on Disability released, Breaking the School-to-Prison Pipeline for Students with Disabilities[genericon icon=external], a report researched and written by DREDF. The School-to-Prison Pipeline (STPP) refers to the practice of pushing students out of school and into the criminal justice system. The report’s findings document that students with disabilities, especially students of color with disabilities, are at the greatest risk of being thrust into the STPP. Nationally, students with disabilities are more than twice as likely to be suspended than students without disabilities. The statistics are even worse for students of color with disabilities. In 2009–2010, one out of every four (25%) African American children with disabilities in grades K–12 received at least one suspension.

1 comment

  1. thank you so much for being an advocate for our children with special needs.
    Yes! is so true that our minority children get more suspensions than other children.

    My son has being diagnosed with mild autism, and ADHD. He is bi-racial (Mexican/white).
    His special education teacher keeps sending him to the principal’s office for asking questions and making noises and the principal will suspend him. He is in 7th grade.
    Is this legal?

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