The Superpredator Myth Of School-To-Prison Discipline

The rise of the “Superpredator” Myth in the 1990s led to schools adopting policies that created the School-to-Prison Pipeline. The “Superpredator” Myth was the false projection of an enormous crime wave leading to the belief that teenage crime would skyrocket in the following years. The myth was created by projections of a sudden increase in crimes committed in the US. Along with the prediction of a huge crime wave, it was also predicted that teenagers, specifically black and Latino teenagers, would make up 50% of the predicted crime due to the belief that they were completely impulsive and had no remorse. Another way to justify the prediction of a spike in teenage crime was to describe youth as “fatherless, Godless, and jobless.” These predictions

Many black individuals got prison sentences for any little inconvenience they caused. They also were stereotyped as criminals and delinquents no matter their true background (“Retro Report on PBS”). This myth would end up being discredited for several reasons. One of which, was that the youth crime rate actually dropped and got cut in half. Other people realized that making children serve mandatory life sentences is cruel especially because a human brain is not fully developed until 25 years old (“Retro Report on PBS”). This myth led to the School-to-Prison Pipeline which was the increased presence of police officers and severe punishments in schools. Teenagers, specifically black and Latino teenagers, faced harsh consequences because schools enforced zero-tolerance policies and gave excessive suspensions for any type of misbehavior. Schools tried to prevent teenage crime by implementing zero-tolerance policies within the schools. They also increased the number of police officers in schools to enforce good behavior. Schools also gave out hundreds of unnecessary suspensions a year

Or the North Carolina teenagers arrested and charged with “disorderly conduct” in 2013 for an end-of-the-year water balloon fight. This list continues endlessly (Flannery). Schools and the NEA took many different approaches to put an end to these needless practices by ordering school districts to respond to student misbehavior in fair, non-discriminatory, and effective ways. NEA leaders started to raise awareness of the issue, shape district and state policies, and provide resources on restorative practices. In 2014 an education association worked on creating a new student code of conduct that minimizes suspensions and allows students to learn from their mistakes. Other districts signed memorandums of understanding to keep minor offenders out of court. More recently teachers have been getting training on cultural awareness and diversity (Flannery). The “Superpredator” Myth led School-to-Prison Pipeline to become very influential to the beliefs of individuals living in the US which led to a number of negative impacts in schools including zero-tolerance policies, the additional presence of police officers, arrests, and