School disturbance laws, also known as school disruption laws, are a series of state laws within the United States that prohibit and instill penalties for those found guilty of disturbing the operations of a school. In some states, merely "disturbing school" is a crime, with the law giving no further definition or guidance to those charged with enforcing the law. Locked Up for the Crime of ‘Disturbing School’, The Daily Beast. May 9, 2017. Retrieved 2017-12-10. Enacted by states in the early 20th century to protect students from outside adults, since the Civil Rights Era they began to be used against students within the schools. As of 2017, there are over 20 states with these laws still in place, although they remain actively enforced by only some. It is reported that nationally, 10,000 juveniles are charged with "disturbing school" each year, in addition to those who are charged as adults.How America Outlawed Adolescence, The Atlantic. November 2016. Retrieved 2017-12-07. The application of these laws, including arrest, expulsion, and incarceration, are in many states part of the "school to prison pipeline," the channeling of students of all ages into the criminal justice program. This frequently has adverse effects on students' academic performance, ability to remain in the educational system, likelihood of adult incarceration, and their future success in society.
Criticism of the laws is widespread and has been so since as early as 1970. This includes concerns that the laws' vagueness gives enforcement officials too much discretion in interpretation which criminalizes classroom misbehavior that previously would have been handled through school discipline;Lawmaker wants better tracking of disturbing-school offenses, Greenville News, November 28, 2015. Retrieved 2017-12-09. they are applied unevenly, depending on the biases of those enforcing them; they are enforced disproportionately against students of color, with disabilities, and/or those identifying as LGBT;Indiana Public Media, Study: LGBT Youth Left Out Of Suspension, Expulsion Reduction Efforts. March 28, 2016. Retrieved 2017-12-08 and they are a main tool of in-school police officers, many of whom are armed and whose training and attitudes – geared for adult law enforcement situations – have been found to be no more effective than non-criminal justice methods in ensuring safety in schools. ACLU Washington, Students Not Suspects: The Need to Reform School Policing in Washington State, April 18, 2017. Retrieved 2017-12-08. A 2017 lawsuit claims one state's law "creates an impossible standard for school children to follow and for police to enforce with consistency and fairness".Suit takes on disturbing-schools law ACLU: Way S.C. statute is interpreted ‘is criminalizing being a teenager’, Post and Courier. August 10, 2016. Retrieved 2017-12-09.ACLU sues over school shackling, Education Weekly, August 17, 2015. Retrieved 2017-12-08.
Several incidents in the media recent years have highlighted the use of law enforcement in schools and the underlying disturbance laws. These include videos of a School Resource Officer in South Carolina high school dragging a student across the classroom for refusing to stop using her mobile phone, then arresting her and a fellow student for recording the incident; and an autistic 11-year-old student tackled to the ground by school security, then charged with felony assault for resisting. Numerous articles about these incidents have raised awareness of the school disturbance laws and their problems, including their broad interpretation and application, such as South Carolina's law which makes it a crime to "disturb school" or to "act in an obnoxious manner."
Studies in the early 21st century have questioned the effectiveness and fairness of the laws and their application. Several states revised their school disturbance laws to lessen the impact of the criminal justice system on students within schools.South Carolina General Assembly Bill S.131, text. Amended on April 5, 2017. Retrieved 2017-12-09.
History School Disturbance Laws have been in existence since at least as early as 1919, when a law was proposed in South Carolina, to address concerns of men flirting with students at an all-white women's college. The law prohibited any "obnoxious" behavior or "loiter[ing]" at any girls' school or college, with a penalty of up to a $100 fine or 30 days in jail. Similar laws appeared in many states along with laws to protect worship services or public meetings. In some states, they were written to ensure they applied only to non-students.This Is The Law Officers Use To Arrest Students For "Disturbing School", Buzzfeed. October 28, 2015. Retrieved 2017-12-08.
During the 1960s the laws began to evolve into their current form of applying to all schools. In 1967 after African American students protested against segregation in Orangeburg, South Carolina, it was proposed to change the law to prohibit obnoxious behavior at all schools in order to "keep(ing) outside agitators off campus," according to the bill's sponsor. Subsequent protests, including what became known as the Orangeburg Massacre where police shot 30 unarmed students and killed 3 African American teenagers, the law was signed into law. The President's Commission on Campus Unrest reported in 1970 that "more than 30 states had passed nearly 80 laws to counter student unrest". The law has since been used to permit the arrest of thousands of mostly African-American students who breach the law.‘Disturbing Schools’ Law and School Resource Officers Criminalize Teens, Juvenile Justice Information Exchange. October 29, 2015. Retrieved 2017-12-08.
In 1969 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that students had a right to protest peacefully on school grounds, as long as they did so without "materially and substantially" disturbing class. Until the 1970s, it had been a common practice for "problem youth" to be "pushed out" of the educational system. By the decade of the 1970s, court decisions began to stress that all had the right to an education within the educational system. It therefore resulted in students who had been found to be delinquent "could no longer legally be dismissed from school on the recommendation of a teacher or an administrator". School counselors were then tasked with working with behavioral and emotional problems with students who previously would have been expelled or sent to reform schools. (Cox & Conrad, 1978)" Gordon Crews: A Study of School Disturbance in the United States: A Twentieth Century Perspective, Part Two. 1996. Marshall University – Marshall Digital Scholar Retrieved 2017-12-08.
School disturbance laws started to become integral to school discipline in the 1990s, in response to rising fears of school violence, high-profile shootings in schools (such as the Columbine High School massacre), and passage of "zero-tolerance laws" such as the Gun-Free Schools Act of 1994, following which many more police were installed in schools across the US. From the mid-1970s to 2008, the number of schools with police stationed on campus rose from approximately 1 percent to 40 percent."Criminalizing Children at School, The New York Times.
In the early 21st century concerns about the laws and their application began to be addressed in some states. A 2011 study of nearly 1 million Texas students found that nearly 60% of students were suspended or expelled at least once between grades 7 and 12." In 2012, Texas changed the law such that students could no longer be charged with "disrupting class" and no student younger than 12 years could be charged with a "low-level misdemeanor at school". Additional steps requiring obtaining witness statements and writing formal complaints by officers were implemented.
In 2017 a law was proposed in South Carolina to urge educators and school administrators "to exhaust all avenues of behavioral discipline in accordance with the school's code of conduct prior to requesting the involvement of law enforcement officials." The law was passed and signed into law on May 17, 2018.
By state At least 21 states and dozens of cities and towns currently outlaw school disturbances in one way or another. Below is a partial list of states and districts with school disturbance laws and some of their details.Does Your School Arrest Students?, National Public Radio, January 27, 2017. Retrieved 2017-12-08.
Alabama Arizona Arkansas: bans "annoying conduct" California Connecticut Delaware Florida: it is a crime to "interfere with the lawful administration or functions of any educational institution" or to "advise" another student to do so. Georgia Indiana Kansas Kentucky Maine: interrupting a teacher by speaking loudly is a civil offense, punishable by up to a $500 fine. Maryland Nevada South Carolina South Dakota: prohibits "boisterous" behavior Texas Washington District of Columbia
In 2012, Texas curtailed their school disturbance law to no longer apply to students in their own schools, and to exclude students under the age of 12 from being charged with low-level misdemeanors. In May 2018, South Carolina's school-disturbance law was amended to apply only to former students who harm or threaten students or teachers in schools or colleges.
Criticism of the laws Vagueness and broad-scope In several states, the school disturbance laws are not specific in defining what behavior or actions are covered, instead using far-reaching language such as "disorderly conduct", "disturbing a public assembly", or "act in an obnoxious behavior".Robin L. Dahlberg: Arrested Development – The Criminalization of School Discipline in Massachusetts’ Three Largest School Districts. Spring 2012. ACLU, CFJJ. Retrieved 2017-12-08.Go Directly to Jail: Typical Teens Face Police Instead of Principals, Takeapart. October 28, 2015. Retrieved 2017-12-08. In Maryland, lawmakers stated that their state's law "could be applied to a kindergarten pupil throwing a temper tantrum."
Concerns over the broad application of some school disturbance laws have led to calls for changes around the country for over four decades.Education Week. Retrieved 2017-12-08. In September 1970, the President's Commission on Campus Unrest warned of "antistudent and antiuniversity laws that range from the unnecessary and ill-directed to the purely vindictive."
Criminalization of behavior The laws' application has led to a perception that normal adolescent misbehavior is being subjected to punishment by the criminal justice system instead of through traditional school disciplinary channels, that in some instances has rendered "all manner of common misbehavior illegal". A 2012 report on the criminalization of school discipline in Massachusetts noted that the state's "disturbing a lawful assembly" law has repeatedly been used to arrest students who act out, for bringing phones to school, swearing at school resource officers, and failing to identify themselves.
The increased application of the school disturbance laws have parallel the use of law enforcement officials as school resource officers based in schools. According to a 2017 analysis of 2,650 schools published in the Washington University Law Review, students at schools with police officers were significantly more likely to be reported to law enforcement for low-level offenses than students at schools without police, even after controlling for the neighborhood crime rate, the demographics of the schools, and a host of other variables. Most law-enforcement officials are trained to address adult criminal behavior, to assert authority, and to take control of a situation. That often have limited training or understanding of issues of child development and psychology. As a result, the way they address student behavioral issues can have a detrimental effect on the student population and school as a whole."
Some notable recent examples: