Active shooter drill: Line of several teens with hands up behind heads stand in side building hallway protected by armed police

95% of public schools conduct active shooter drills. Are students safer?

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Lockdown drills aimed at preparing students to protect themselves from school shooters do more to stir kids’ anxiety than their sense of protection, argues Dr. Annie Andrews, a South Carolina mother, pediatrician and firearm injury researcher. “Our children do not benefit from participating in these drills,” said former congressional candidate Andrews, also co-founder of  Their Future. Our Vote. “Children deserve to feel safe in their schools.”

Among those countering that viewpoint is Alex Piquero, a University of Miami criminologist and former director of the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics. “We are, unfortunately, living in a world where we just have to plan for school shootings and hope that they never happen,” said Piquero, a former editor of the Journal of Quantitative Criminology.

Disabled students at higher risk for arrests, dropping out: male detention worker walks a black juvenile offender down a hallway

Juvenile justice staffing crisis: Time to reimagine our approach

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We recently conducted a survey of juvenile justice agencies on their staff hiring and retention challenges. Over 200 individual state and local juvenile corrections and probation agencies representing 37 states and over 190 counties reported that they are facing greater staffing difficulties than at any time in the past 10 years.

Classroom disruptions: Rear view of several students at desks bent over work with teacher facing classroom standing in front of blackboard.

Shaken by post-pandemic disruptions, some states take a harder line on school discipline

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Parents in Boone County, Kentucky, were outraged this past January when a ninth grader who had been suspended a year earlier for threatening violence against his fellow students returned to class as soon as his punishment time was up.

“The kid had a ‘kill list’ which named students — friends he was going to kill,” said Republican state Rep. Steve Rawlings.

Juveniles in Angola Prison: Close-up of peaked, beige-siding roof over a drive-through entrance, with black lettering, "Louisiana State Penitentiary"

Judge rules Louisiana must remove youth from Angola

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A federal judge Friday ordered Louisiana prison officials to stop housing youth offenders in the former death row of Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola and to relocate them within one week, after finding that conditions at Angola constitute cruel and unusual punishment and violate the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.

Formerly Incarerated in College: Closeup of person in black graduation gown holding a black graduate cap with gold tassel and a rolled parchment scroll with red ribbon

How to get into college if you have a criminal record

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To Syrita Steib, the University of New Orleans denied her first application for admission in what seemed like lightning speed. With equal speed, though, the university accepted her second application. The difference? The second time around, Steib didn’t disclose her criminal history.