Zero Tolerance Policies

Since the 1980s and 1990s, Americans have been led to believe that school violence is more prevalent than it actually is.1 Many schools have adopted "zero tolerance" policies which require mandatory consequences, often suspensions and expulsions for certain infractions despite the actual severity or threat to safety of the behaviors.2 The implementation of such policies suggested that schools would become safer and the needs of all students would be better served. The proliferation of zero tolerance and related policies that resulted in what is sometimes referred to as "school pushout," have had the unintended effects of unnecessarily introducing many low-risk youth to the juvenile justice system for disruptive behaviors that are very typical