ABSTRACT
In the introduction to the volume, Burch introduces central themes of the book, describes the chapter contributions, and identifies policy levers that are critical to seriously addressing the school-to-prison pipeline in a contemporary context. The premise of this chapter is that “well-intended” policies within and outside of schools have contributed to the persistence of the school-to-prison pipeline including those taken up in the name of incarcerated youth. Despite over a decade of federal policy to improve the quality of education within juvenile facilities, the majority of youth (disproportionately Black and Latinx) are being denied the instruction that is their right by state law. These federal policy efforts exemplify how degenerative policy (Schneider and Ingraham, 1997) operates in the school-to-prison pipeline and serves to further harm and trap youth in the criminal justice system. The research and arguments presented in the book are intended to help show how this happens and to better reveal how policies and practices “outside of schools” contribute to the problem and how the same limited do-gooder impulse that contributes to policy failure may contribute to the justification for the school-to-prison pipeline rather than its dismantling.
