Adjusting Zero Tolerance

Radio Commentary, WMVV 90.7 New Life FM, May 21, 2010
By Sue Ella Deadwyler

Good morning, Jim. Students must be disciplined, but zero tolerance policies focus directly on harsh punishment, rather than redirection of bad behavior. Actions that used to be called childhood pranks have morphed into felony assault charges. For example, five young men were charged with a felony for throwing peanuts. The same charge was made against two 10-year-old boys who put soap in a teacher’s water and an 11-year-old girl was arrested and dragged away in a police car after bringing a plastic knife to school in her lunch box to cut her chicken.

But on April 29th, Georgia became one of the first states in the country to change zero tolerance policies, that have made absolutely no distinction between childhood mistakes and serious misconduct. Zero tolerance demands instant punishment and stiff one-size-fits-all sentences for the slightest violation. When students are expelled from school for bringing Tweety Bird key chains or plastic guns to school for show-and-tell, something needs to change.

The consequences of such overreaction became painfully clear after UCLA’s Civil Rights Project reported the results of zero tolerance and school discipline policies. In 1998, more than 3.1 million children in America were suspended and another 87,000 were expelled. Many were unfairly suspended or kicked out of school. Some who shared cough drops or asthma medications during an emergency suffered the same penalties as serious offenders.

To the list of felonies that currently may be charged against juveniles, S.B. 299 added carrying a firearm, machine gun or other dangerous weapon in public gatherings. But, along with those very serious additions, a more reasonable approach is allowed judges in juvenile court. Although such violations committed by children 13- to 17-years-old are classified as felonies, the strategic placement of the simple word “may” changed the philosophy of zero tolerance.

Currently, the law says juveniles “shall” be taken into restrictive custody. S.B. 299 removes the one-size-fits-all penalty in zero tolerance policies by authorizing judges to consider all aspects in each case, before pronouncing judgment in juvenile court. Senator Emanuel Jones was thrilled when his S.B. 299, unanimously, passed both House and Senate this session and will soon become law. For Georgia Insight I’m Sue Ella Deadwyler, your Capitol correspondent.