The Constitutional Limit Of Zero Tolerance In School

Zero tolerance policy has been around since 1994. While zero tolerance may sound fair and reasonable, it isn’t practical when in use of instances when the victim is not at fault or was doing a good deed. In his very long scholarly article, “The Constitutional Limit of Zero
Tolerance in Schools”, written by Derek W. Black, many people have been expelled for doing good deeds. Black tells the story of how a boy named Benjamin got expelled in middle school for coming to the immediate aide of his friend. Black goes into detail of how Ben took the knife from his friend, preventing her to use it against herself. This act good deed has gotten Ben expelled for the remainder of the year. Black then explains more on other cases of how zero tolerance policies has ruined people. As you can tell, Black is against zero tolerance.
There’s people who support the idea, in the middle, and those who are against it. David L. Stader in his article, “Zero Tolerance as Public Policy: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”, partially leans on the side of keeping the zero tolerance policy. Stader tells us that drugs, physical assaults, and weapons are generally minor or not huge problems with less than 2% of schools ranking them as serious problems. Stader follows up with more statistics such as from 1993-1999, students in grades 9-12 had a percentage of 12 of carrying a weapon. The percentage then falls down to 7% down the road. Stader agrees that zero tolerance sends a powerful message to the school community that violent behavior will not be tolerated. Schools need strong, effective policies to protect our students and to help them feel