
Forced out: Schools feed the juvenile prison population
Black students were suspended from school 3½ times more often than white students during the 2018-19 school year, according to a News21 analysis of 11 sample states and New York City, which collectively serve about half of all U.S. students.
Despite making up just 15% of the sample student population, Black students received 32% of the 1.6 million suspensions analyzed by News21.
Decades of issuing harsher punishments, including suspensions and expulsions, in the name of school safety has accelerated the flow of kids out of primary and secondary schools and into detention centers and prisons, often referred to as the school-to-prison pipeline.