Journal article
Keeping kids in school through prearrest diversion: School disciplinary outcomes of the Philadelphia Police School Diversion Program
Law and human behavior, v 45(6), pp 497-511
Dec 2021
PMID: 34928646
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Developed to keep youth in school and out of court, the Philadelphia Police School Diversion Program allows youth to avoid arrest for specified school-based summary and misdemeanor offenses. This study examined whether diverted youth were also less likely to experience exclusionary discipline, both in response to the referring incident and in the following calendar year.
We predicted that diverted youth-compared to youth arrested in schools the year before program implementation-would have been less likely to receive a suspension for their school-based incident, receive a suspension in the year following the incident, and be referred for permanent school removal in the year following the incident.
Using a quasi-experimental design, we examined data from 1,281 diverted youth and 531 comparable youth arrested in Philadelphia schools in the year before program implementation. These 1,812 students (67% male, 75% Black) ranged from 10 to 22 years of age. After using propensity score matching techniques, we conducted mixed-effects logistic regression analyses to compare the matched groups on 3 outcomes: incident-related suspension, postincident suspension, and postincident referral for permanent school removal.
No statistically significant group differences in likelihood of incident-related suspension emerged; however, age and gender moderated the relationship between diverted/arrested status and incident-related suspension. Diverted youth were less likely than matched arrested youth to experience both postincident suspension and postincident permanent school removal referral.
The Philadelphia Police School Diversion Program shows promise in reducing the likelihood that youth will experience future exclusionary discipline following a school-based incident. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
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Details
- Title
- Keeping kids in school through prearrest diversion: School disciplinary outcomes of the Philadelphia Police School Diversion Program
- Creators
- Naomi E S Goldstein - Drexel UniversityAmanda NeMoyer - Drexel UniversityTuQuynh Le - Drexel UniversitySiying Guo - Drexel UniversityLindsey M Cole - Drexel UniversityAngela Pollard - Drexel UniversityRena Kreimer - Drexel UniversityFengqing Zhang - Drexel University
- Publication Details
- Law and human behavior, v 45(6), pp 497-511
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Brain Sciences (Psychology)
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000731153300002
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85122907641
- Other Identifier
- 991019168313104721
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Law
- Psychology, Social