How ‘Zero Tolerance’ Blurred the Lines Between Schools and Criminal Justice | Retro Report

Explore why public schools in the 1980s and 1990s came to adopt policies based upon the doctrine of “zero tolerance,” a “law and order” approach to school discipline that included widespread use of arrests and expulsions. Following this unprecedented partnership between schools and the police, many critics are using the policy’s racially unequal outcomes to justify a less strict and punitive approach. Useful for any lesson focused on racial inequality in the educational or criminal justice system, or for any lesson exploring the swing of the pendulum towards “tough on crime” policies in the 1980s and 1990s, the video helps students see the connection between modern debates over the “school-to-prison pipeline” and the politics and culture of the 1980s and 1990s.