Columbia Law School
Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies
African American Policy Forum
BLACK GIRLS MATTER: PUSHED OUT, OVERPRICED, AND UNDERPROTECTED
By Kimberlie Williams Crenshaw with Priscilla Ocen and Jyoti Nanda
Excepts from the original document
It is well-established in the research literature and by educational advocates that there is a link between the use of punitive disciplinary measures and subsequent patterns of criminal supervision and incarceration. Commonly understood as the “school- to-prison pipeline”, this framework highlights the ways that punitive school policies lead to low achievement, system involvement, and other negative outcomes. Efforts to reverse the consequences of this pipeline have typically foregrounded boys of color, especially Black boys, who are suspended or expelled more than any other group.
Punitive disciplinary policies also negatively impact Black girls and other girls of color. Yet much of the existing research literature excludes girls from the analysis, leading many stakeholders to infer that girls of color are not at risk.
The challenge is real. Black girls receive more severe sentences when they enter the juvenile justice system than do members of any other group of girls, and they are also the fastest growing population in the system. Despite these troubling trends, there is very little research highlighting the short and long term effects of over discipline and push-out on girls of color.
For girls, as with boys, the failure to receive a high school diploma often places individual on a pathway to low-wage work, unemployment, and incarceration. The imposition of harsh disciplinary policies in public schools is a well-known risk factor for stunted educational opportunities for Black and Latino boys. Such punishments also negatively affect their female counterparts, as do other conditions in zero-tolerance schools. Yet, the existing research, data, and public policy debates often fail to address the degree to which girls face risks that are both similar to and different from those faced by boys.
#Loray Muhammad, author
#Black Integration a Fail Social Experiment