Reducing Student Referrals to the Juvenile Justice System

In many juris­dic­tions, schools are a sig­nif­i­cant source of juve­nile jus­tice refer­rals. Ver­bal and phys­i­cal alter­ca­tions can lead to school-based arrests, court refer­rals and pushout. A new resource from the Bal­ti­more Alge­bra Project helps stu­dents resolve con­flicts that can lead to being encour­aged — or even forced — to exit school and pushed into the juve­nile jus­tice sys­tem. The Stu­dent Con­flict Res­o­lu­tion Toolk­it, fund­ed by the Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion, pro­vides prac­ti­cal meth­ods for de-esca­lat­ing dis­putes, increas­ing self-aware­ness and restor­ing rela­tion­ships in schools and beyond.

VIEW THE TOOLKIT

“Unlike most toolk­its cre­at­ed by adults, this one is designed by stu­dents, for stu­dents, cen­ter­ing their expe­ri­ences and lead­er­ship,” said Isman­uela Denis, a pro­gram asso­ciate with the Foundation’s Juve­nile Jus­tice Strat­e­gy Group. ​“The guide helps strength­en school cli­mate through restora­tive prac­tices and encour­ages stu­dents to fos­ter resilience and devel­op life­long skills in prob­lem-solv­ing, inter­per­son­al com­mu­ni­ca­tion, healthy rela­tion­ships and a sense of belonging.”

Build­ing a Response to Conflict

The Bal­ti­more Alge­bra Project is a youth-led math lit­er­a­cy orga­ni­za­tion that works to improve the lives of young peo­ple in Bal­ti­more City. It con­duct­ed more than two dozen focus groups to doc­u­ment young people’s views about con­flict and ways of resolv­ing it. The find­ings from these con­ver­sa­tions, com­bined with stu­dent research on con­flict res­o­lu­tion, were the basis for a first draft of the toolkit.

Stu­dents who par­tic­i­pat­ed in the focus groups reviewed the draft to see if it accu­rate­ly reflect­ed their views. The toolk­it acknowl­edges that con­flict is an inevitable con­se­quence of being human. You may not be able to avoid con­flict, but you can choose how you respond to it.

“If young peo­ple have the tools to reflect on con­flict and not have it reach a fever pitch so fre­quent­ly,” said Jamal Jones, co-direc­tor of the Bal­ti­more Alge­bra Project, ​“We’ll like­ly reduce the num­ber of stu­dent refer­rals and the num­ber of young peo­ple going into the carcer­al system.”

Tools, Prin­ci­ples and Prac­tices for Resolv­ing Conflict

The Stu­dent Con­flict Res­o­lu­tion Toolk­it ele­vates prac­tices and poli­cies that pre­vent youth from enter­ing the jus­tice sys­tem and make schools safe learn­ing envi­ron­ments for all. The toolk­it fea­tures a selec­tion of sup­port resources:

• a glos­sary of key words to pro­mote a shared under­stand­ing among stu­dents and teach­ers of con­flicts and their resolution;
• a list of books, videos and pod­casts that pro­vide addi­tion­al infor­ma­tion about con­flict res­o­lu­tion; and
• a series of ques­tions aimed at con­sid­er­ing the per­spec­tive of oth­ers and allow­ing stu­dents to see all sides of a conflict.

A com­pact check­list sum­ma­rizes nine prin­ci­ples of con­flict res­o­lu­tion, which include: 

• Prin­ci­ple 1: Got­ta Com­mu­ni­cate, Dat’s Law — How we com­mu­ni­cate large­ly dic­tates whether any form of con­flict inten­si­fies or de-escalates.
• Prin­ci­ple 2: Natures of Con­flict — To resolve con­flict, we must focus on its root caus­es — emo­tions, con­text, and envi­ron­ment — not just the trig­ger­ing events.
• Prin­ci­ple 3: Know the Beast — Con­tain and cool con­flict before it grows out of control.
• Prin­ci­ple 4: Dial Down Flames — Avoid react­ing from emo­tion or try­ing to ​“win.” The goal is to con­tain and cool con­flict before it grows out of control.
• Prin­ci­ple 5: Pres­sure Busts Pipes & Makes Dia­monds — Man­age pres­sure with tools to pre­vent explo­sive reac­tions and encour­age pos­i­tive transformation.
• Prin­ci­ple 6: It Takes Time — Con­flict res­o­lu­tion isn’t instant; tak­ing breaks, resolv­ing issues in small steps and respect­ing oth­ers’ tim­ing can pre­vent escalation.
• Prin­ci­ple 7: Mo’ Mon­ey, Mo’ Plat­forms, Mo’ Peo­ple — Con­tain­ing the peo­ple or plat­forms involved con­flict pre­vents it from grow­ing bigger.
• Prin­ci­ple 8: Know What You’re Look­ing For — Con­flict pre­ven­tion begins with under­stand­ing con­text, emo­tions and your own limits.
• Prin­ci­ple 9: Con­sult the Con­fi­dants — A trust­ed con­fi­dant can help de-esca­late con­flict by offer­ing per­spec­tive and guidance.

The stu­dent authors sug­gest var­i­ous meth­ods to ​“dial down the flames” in any com­bustible sit­u­a­tion, such as: 

• resist­ing emo­tion­al replies to insults or crit­i­cism until you reflect on your feelings;
• iden­ti­fy­ing and assess­ing your rea­sons for being involved in the conflict;
• pri­or­i­tiz­ing mutu­al under­stand­ing over estab­lish­ing who is right or wrong; and
• find­ing ways of repair­ing rela­tion­ships dur­ing con­flict — for exam­ple, putting pride aside and apologizing.

Diver­sion and Prevention

Young peo­ple don’t tran­si­tion into adult­hood in iso­la­tion. The envi­ron­ments and sup­port net­works around them — at home, work and school — all help shape their growth.​“Part of help­ing young peo­ple nav­i­gate ado­les­cence is mak­ing schools safer and more wel­com­ing,” Denis said.

The Casey Foundation’s invest­ment in the Stu­dent Con­flict Res­o­lu­tion Toolk­it is part of a larg­er effort to pre­vent youth from need­ing to enter the jus­tice sys­tem, keep­ing them in the class­room or on oth­er pos­i­tive paths toward long-term suc­cess. Fos­ter­ing sup­port­ive edu­ca­tion­al spaces is par­tic­u­lar­ly essen­tial for stu­dents con­sid­ered at high risk of jus­tice sys­tem involve­ment or those already tra­vers­ing that system.

Relat­ed Resources

Learn about pre­vent­ing school pushout and jus­tice sys­tem involvement