Can Restorative Justice Interrupt the School-to-Prison Pipeline? a Case Study of Chicago Public High Schools

Background and Purpose

The practices and discourse of the juvenile justice system have seeped into schools - giving rise to a disturbing national trend of the school-to-prison pipeline, disproportionately impacting minority youth. Restorative justice (RJ) offers alternative strategies for humanizing school environments and building a sense of community. Within Chicago, community based organizations (CBOs) advocated for RJ to be incorporated within the school discipline code of conduct.

Drawing on key organizational theoretical frameworks- institutional logics and diffusion of innovation, the purpose of the study is to assess the continuum of the level of institutionalization of RJ practices within Chicago Public High Schools (CPS). The continuum will be assessed based on the nature of collaboration between CPS and various CBOs on differing RJ strategies implemented across geographically diverse schools. The assumption is that schools who implement RJ independent of a CBO in the long-term are more likely operating as a logic (deeper infusion) compared to schools who are completely reliant on a CBO for its implementation, i.e., an innovation.  

Methods

The study adopts a two-phased purposively sampled qualitative comparative case study research design. In phase 1, in-depth semi-structured interviews were carried out with 10 RJ program managers of CBOs, to understand the nature of their RJ partnerships with schools. In phase 2, data was collected from four schools utilizing such partnerships. Within each school, semi-structured interviews were carried out with key teaching, non-teaching staff and administrative staff (15 per school) to understand everyday disciplinary practices. Additionally, non-participant observation of school culture and climate group meetings took place and telephonic interviews were conducted with key central district officials to gain the district’s take on RJ. Using the AtlasTi software, verbatim transcripts of audio-recorded interviews will be analyzed using an inductive and deductive coding scheme.

Results

CBO and central office perspectives highlight the uneven implementation of RJ across the district, as altering mindsets in highly unionized environments is challenging. Visionary leadership and consistent funding were viewed as critical to bring about whole-school buy-in.

Within schools, RJ appears to be a buzzword. RJ implementation is top heavy- largely the prerogative of the administrative staff who handle disciplinary infractions. Teachers have mixed views on RJ but feel overburdened with implementing RJ in their classrooms, while most support staff are unaware of RJ. The reliance on CBOs to infuse RJ within schools is high irrespective of whether partnerships are longstanding or not.

Conclusions and Implications

Study findings seem to highlight that schools irrespective of their type of partnership, implement RJ as more of an innovation than a logic due to constraints such as budget cuts, minimal training, staff retention and leadership changes. These differences are starker in the south and west parts of the city (more criminogenic) compared to the north, reflective of varied school resource allocation. The study is unique in that instead of focusing on the outcomes of RJ, per se, it looks at the process of and challenges in implementing this praxis and provides insight into how schools can better partner with CBOs.