Police Ticketing Students Civil Rights case: Illustration close-up of policeperson in uniform standing in front of student sitting at desk while handing student a ticket

An Illinois school district’s reliance on police to ticket students is discriminatory, civil rights complaint says

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Illinois law bans schools from fining students. But police routinely issue tickets to children for minor misbehavior at school, burdening families with financial penalties. Two national civil rights groups accused Illinois’ third-largest school district of relying on police to handle school discipline, unlawfully targeting Black students with tickets, arrests and other discipline. In a 25-page complaint against Rockford Public Schools, filed with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, the National Center for Youth Law and the MacArthur Justice Center said that Rockford police officers have been “addressing minor behaviors that should be handled as an educational matter by parents, teachers, and school leaders — and not as a law enforcement matter by police officers.” The complaint adds: “Black students bear the brunt of this harm.”

Police on campus: closeup of only middle and right side body showing hand on gun in holster of police on tan and brown uniform with modern high school campus in the background

Ticketed at school as a teen, a young Black woman is suing an Illinois city for violating her civil rights

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It took four years and a jury trial for Amara Harris to beat the ticket that accused her of stealing another girl’s AirPods. Now she’s heading back to court in the hope of stopping schools from using police to discipline students. Illinois law bans schools from fining students. But police routinely issue tickets to children for minor misbehavior at school, burdening families with financial penalties.

Sandra Birchmore justice: Young teen girl with brown hair pulled back stands smiling next to man in black police uniform and cap with hos arm around the girl's shoulders

In this police youth program, a trail of sexual abuse across the U.S.

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The last known person to see Sandra Birchmore alive was a police officer. He stopped by her apartment a few days before Birchmore, 23 years old and newly pregnant, was found dead in February 2021. The officer acknowledged having sex with her when she was 15. His twin brother — also an officer and Explorer mentor — and a third Stoughton officer, a veteran who ran the program, eventually had sex with her, too. Birchmore’s case is among at least 194 allegations that law enforcement personnel, mostly policemen, have groomed, sexually abused or engaged in inappropriate behavior with children in the Boy Scouts Explorers since 1974.

Legal counseling for behavior issues: Young child's hand holding sculpture of themis, femida or justice goddess on green leaves natural bokeh copy space background

As more youth struggle with behavior and traditional supports fall short, clinicians are partnering with lawyers to help

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Medical-legal partnerships work to address the problems that could be harming a student’s health. After ruling out stressors in Antonio’s family environment, a Yale legal team learned more about the challenges he was facing at school, including severe learning difficulties in the classroom and bullies outside of school. The clinicians realized they needed another team member to help: a lawyer. Can this approach work in other communities?

Lie detector tests and juveniles: Blonde teen boy in white shirt sitting in chair with lie detector wires wrapped around his chest

Mostly banned from adult courts, polygraphs also shouldn’t be used against juveniles

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In 1998, the U.S. Supreme Court banned from courtroom evidence most results from lie-detector tests because those polygraph exams are scientifically flawed and unreliable, a ruling the American Psychological Association concurred with. However, in juvenile courts, where judges still have the discretion to allow or ban such so-called evidence, polygraphs have been used to coerce some juvenile sex offenders into making what researchers concluded were false confessions. The misuse doesn’t end there.

Juvenile solitary: Close-up of legs and hands-in-lap of black person wearing over-sized navy pants sitting on edge of built-in cement bench with metal toilet in background.

Despite outcry over seclusion at juvenile detention centers, Tennessee lawmakers fail to pass oversight bill

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Children in Rutherford County,  have been arrested and jailed at rates unparalleled in the state. This story reports on an investigation of why that is happening — and other ways the justice system there singles out children. A bill that would strengthen oversight of Tennessee’s juvenile detention centers has failed, despite a concerted push for reform after multiple county-run facilities were found to be locking children alone in cells.

Q&A Teaching after Columbine: Columbine High School sign - cement center with red brick pillars - in 2012, on grass slope with evergreen trees in background.

Q&A: This Colorado teacher survived Columbine. Here’s how she prioritizes trauma-informed practices.

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When Heather Martin was a senior in high school, she survived the 1999 Columbine High School shooting that killed 12 students and one teacher in Littleton, Colorado. Even as she tried to move on with her life, she carried the trauma of that day inside her — often in ways that surprised her. In junior college she struggled with panic attacks and an eating disorder. Eventually, Martin dropped out of college. Today, Martin is a high school English teacher who prioritizes making her students feel safe and giving them the tools to understand and cope with trauma. She’s also the executive director of The Rebels Project, a nonprofit that supports survivors of mass tragedy.

No school suspension: Two rows of many empty, long tables on pale blue or bright orange with attached benches are in a covered cemented area, with several people lined up single file in aisle between them

What happens when suspensions get suspended?

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The Los Angeles school district’s decade-old ban on suspensions for ‘willful defiance’ has benefited students — but also required a major investment in less punitive discipline methods. The district’s results have been positive: Data suggests that schools didn’t become less safe, more chaotic or less effective, as critics had warned.

Parents of teen charged in school shooting to stand trial: middle-aged white man and woman in facemasks sit at hearing

The parents paying for their children’s crimes

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In separate trials earlier this year, Jennifer and James Crumbley became the first parents in U.S. history to be convicted of involuntary manslaughter for a mass shooting committed by their child. They were each sentenced to 10–15 years in prison, the maximum penalty for the crime. Prosecutors argued the Crumbleys ignored urgent warning signs that their son Ethan was having violent thoughts, and that the parents provided access to the gun he used to kill four classmates and injure seven other people at his school in November 2021.

Prison No Education: Black man in dark winter jacket, hat and pants stands leaning against front of bright red semi-truck parked next to a white semi-truck on asphalt parking lot under gray, rainy sky

Many states don’t educate people sentenced to life. Now some are coming home.

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When Yusef Qualls-El was 17, a judge sentenced him to life behind bars. It was the mid-1990s, an era when the U.S. prison population exploded. Thousands of minors like Qualls-El received sentences of life without parole and entered prison at an age when their peers were going to college or starting their careers. But inside, education is often reserved for those who will soon return to society. As a result, those who were seen as the least likely to get out had the fewest opportunities.