FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Permanent Judicial Commission on Justice for Children Tele: 518-285-8780 Email: pjcjc@nycourts.gov NEW FINDINGS HIGHLIGHT THE LINK BETWEEN SCHOOL DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS AND JUVENILE JUSTICE INVOLVEMENT: Today the Council of State Governments Justice Center (CSG) released a report on the effects of school disciplinary actions on student educational outcomes and juvenile justice involvement. CSG and the Public Policy Research Institute at Texas A&M conducted the extensive analysis under the auspices of a bipartisan group of Texas state leaders, including the State’s Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson. Tracking close to one million public school students in Texas during a nine year period, this research confirms that there are grave consequences when students are suspended or expelled, impacting students’ academic performance and in many instances, leading to involvement with the juvenile justice system. Judith S. Kaye – former Chief Judge of the State of New York and chair of the New York State Permanent Judicial Commission on Justice for Children (Commission) commended the Texas state officials for its important work.
Kaye said: “These findings will also help to set the stage for the National Judicial Leadership Summit on School-Justice Partnerships: Keeping Kids in School and Out of Court that we are convening in New York City in March 2012.” The Summit will assemble teams from every state to promote the development of partnerships among the court system, school administration, law enforcement and the community to focus on school-justice collaboration to promote the use of promising practices and policies in our education and justice systems to reduce the number of students entering the juvenile and adult courts. Summit partners include the Commission, American Bar Association’s Commission on Youth at Risk, Conference of Chief Justices, Conference of State Court Administrators, National Center for State Courts, and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges.