"They Slow Me Down": The School Discipline, Legal Involvement, and Community Care Experiences of Black Adolescents

Background: We sought to understand the experiences of youth who participate in a program which provides wraparound services to high-risk and high-need youth. We use a human development lens focusing on how mesosystem experiences affected their ability to tackle developmental tasks of adolescence. Mesosystem navigation of youth’s neighborhoods included interactions at school, with community members, and with police officers. Black youth are negatively impacted by the multifaceted, historic, and systemic relationship between school and prisons, also called the school to prison nexus. While the literature actively discusses policy-level causes such as zero-tolerance policies and police in schools, there is much to gain by focusing on students’ insights. It is imperative to understand Black youth’s legal encounters given current public awareness of the deaths of adolescents by police officers. By listening to youth experiences of their communities, we can better direct supportive services.

Methods: Twenty-six semistructured interviews were conducted with participants (aged 15-19), who were identified as active recipients of the program’s services. They were asked to critically reflect on their experiences and evaluate the program’s impact. Except for one participant who identified as multiracial, all remaining participants stated their race as Black/African American (96%). Regarding gender, the participants were more evenly split (54% female, 46% male). A relational approach to recruitment was utilized in which participants were recruited by the program staff members they interacted with. Youth who agreed to participate took part in a 90-minute interview conducted by a member of the research team. Data were then transcribed and scrubbed for identifying information. The data were coded using Dedoose, where a thematic analysis approach was employed.

Findings: While analyzing the data, three themes emerged -- school discipline, legal involvement, and community care. Many youth reported that negative peer relationships often resulted in school fights, which can lead to suspensions, arrests, and changing schools. Thus, school fights are a major mechanism by which students are pushed out of schools. The experiences of legally involved youth were riddled with ambiguity. First, legal jargon obscured the youth’s understanding of what transpired in these situations. Secondly, these youth experiences highlight the instrumental role of police officers’ discretion. Lastly, youth were ambivalent about the dichotomous nature of policing: noting unfair practices and desiring safe neighborhoods. In terms of community care, youth labeled their families, advocates, and teachers as supportive, while neighborhood community members and peers were labeled as unsupportive. Youth relationships was an underlying thread that inextricably linked the three themes. Findings suggest that negative peer relationships positions students to experience school fights, switch schools, become legally involved, and unsatisfied with their neighborhoods.

Conclusion: The pervasiveness of negative peer relationships and a lack of positive ones may lead to school fights, legal involvement, and undesirable community relations. Navigating these negative peer relationships should be considered a necessary part of adolescence rather than criminalized. School social workers must help youth work through the developmental task of nurturing positive relationships, as well as knowing their rights and legal jargon before altercations with police officers occur.