Judges Criticize School To Prison Pipeline At Conference

Jimmie Edwards, a St. Louis Juvenile Court judge attended a conference in New York City on justice in schools and the school to prison pipeline.

The conference also included former New York State Chief Judge Judith Kaye who also spoke up against the education system for many minorities that many believe prepares young men for jail.

The Huffington Post reports:

Edwards was one of several hundred state judges and education officials at a conference Monday in Midtown Manhattan on school justice and the school-to-prison pipeline. Many experts say zero-tolerance policies, a holdover from the war on drugs, punish all major and minor rule infractions equally and create the pipeline effect, bringing police disproportionately into high-minority schools.

“We now have 10 years of busting kids out of school for minor infractions, but we’re just passing forward the next generation of criminals,” said Kaye, who also chairs the New York State Permanent Judicial Commission on Justice for Children.

Kaye brought judicial and educational workers together at the first “National Leadership Summit On School-Justice Partnerships” in New York City’s Roosevelt Hotel this week. According to program materials, the goal is “keeping kids in school and out of court.”