
This article is part of CPJ’s Shared Justice series on involving families and communities in the juvenile justice system. In the United States, courts will hear nearly 800,000 juvenile justice cases per year. In the current complex system, probation officers, educators and parents often work against each other rather than with each other; this series outlines the tangible ways families can be involved in the restorative process for their children who are in the justice system.
As an educator who wants my students to reach their full potential and become successful adults, I often must navigate different environments and challenges. However, a frustration that I know is shared amongst my fellow educators is that we rarely receive training on how to support justice-involved students. A justice-involved student is a child who currently is, or has been, detained or incarcerated in a detention facility because he or she is accused of committing a crime.
Juvenile detention and incarceration rates have substantially declined since 2020. The Youth Sentencing Project reports that “on an average day, 27,6000 juveniles are detained in a detention center.” No one reason points to why a child is detained; home instability and gun violence are a few of the many factors that lead to detainment. Youth of color — especially young black youth — comprise a disproportionate percentage of incarcerated youth. Black youth are 2.3 times more likely to be arrested than white youth, 60% more likely to be detained and 63% more likely to recidivate. Once students return to school from detention centers, they face stigma from educators and peers in their school that defines their educational experience.
The reactive role teachers play in the legal process damages the student-teacher-parent relationship that has been built.
Educators often play a reactive role in the justice system, providing information to the courts to aid the investigation and legal process after students have been detained and charged with a crime. The reactive role teachers play in the legal process damages the student-teacher-parent relationship that has been built. As a result, students don’t view the teacher as “in their corner,” which disintegrates the trust between teacher and student. When students are released from detention centers, a court-appointed parole officer typically supports students’ transition back to school. In a majority of schools, teachers do not play an active role in supporting justice-involved students to avoid incarceration or recidivism.
As a Christian who has worked in the education space, I’ve often thought about how to honor Scripture’s truth that we are all made in the imago dei, the image of God, amid these harsh realities. As Christians, God calls us to love each other as creations made in God’s image. Peter 4:8 reminds us that, “above all, keep loving one another earnestly since love covers up a multitude of sins.” Love does not excuse sins, but guides people to make different choices and start anew. God calls all his children to live and grow together and to love and forgive those in their community. Love plays a fundamental role in guiding people towards different life choices and helping them change the outcome of their lives. Teaching is an act of love that requires forgiveness and grace so that students can succeed.
Government must ensure that all children have a right to an equal and fair education, and this includes justice-involved students, who are often overlooked and not thought of when it comes to populations who need extra educational support. Currently, many educators and administrators hold justice-involved students to a lower educational standard, largely because of the stigma surrounding these students. Justice-involved students receive disproportionate consequences and are held to lower academic standards, and these negative consequences follow students as they move on to the next grade. The education system should work to uphold the right to an equal and fair education for all children, not just those who fit its vision of a “traditional” student. This means that the school system and educators must work with justice-involved students and families to create a learning environment that fosters opportunity and success.
The Center for Public Justice’s Guideline on education calls for the entire education system to play an important role in the lives of students — especially justice-involved students — to support their transition out of a detention facility and avoid recidivism. The government plays a role in contributing to the common good of humanity and yet students, communities and school systems suffer trauma and violence. Cyclical violence and trauma hinder the flourishing of humanity and the vision of justice that God calls us to in the Bible. A low-quality education perpetuates this damage for justice-involved youth, especially compared to their non-justice-involved peers.
Cyclical violence and trauma hinder the flourishing of humanity and the vision of justice that God calls us to in the Bible.
There are multiple ways that those within the educational system can help students flourish. Students who stay in school and work towards clearly defined academic goals are more likely to succeed academically and avoid recidivism. Teachers, support staff and community members should support students in developing clear academic goals and support students in their efforts to meet them. Educators should act as liaisons between families and schools, supporting stakeholders to meet student needs. The government alone cannot accomplish human flourishing; other parties, like educators, must also support students and families. One common indicator of student success after detention is having a strong support system within the education system, but it’s not the only one. Outside of school, students and families continue to struggle to navigate social injustice that perpetuates cycles of violence, statistically increasing the likelihood that students will become justice-involved.
Additionally, as an educator, it can’t be overstated how restorative and trusting relationships between students, parents and teachers are essential to a student’s success and well-being. Strong student-teacher-parent connections effectively support justice-involved students. When students return to school from detention centers, they should have the chance to select a trusted adult within the school to discuss their personal and academic goals. A sample study done by Stanford University researchers in the Bay Area found this kind of intervention lowered recidivism rates in justice-involved students from 69% to 29%.
I saw this intervention model in action when last working in a school with a higher population of justice-involved students. Students returning to school began with a short duration in “Evening School” (EVS), a smaller educational setting where they would catch up on academic work and receive lessons in social-emotional learning (SEL) skills. Before students returned to a traditional classroom, the school held transition meetings with a Student Support Team to support the student’s transition back into the classroom. Transition meetings included the student, their parent/guardian, school administrators, school counselors/social workers and a trusted adult in the building (selected by the student if possible). Within the meeting, students set behavioral and academic goals for the year, established a “check-in/check-out” system with teachers for behavioral and academic monitoring, and established an action plan to support students. These meetings provided students with an in-school advocate to support their behavioral and academic progress.
Rather than be on the defensive, educators can achieve their maximum impact by assisting justice-involved students to cultivate better educational and social-emotional skills through developing strong student-teacher-parent relationships and modeling effective problem-solving and social skills.
Interventions like this provide students with an advocate in the school who elevates their voice and is present when students need them most. Intentional relationships provide students and families with an education partner, someone inside the building who has a full picture of the learner and helps them achieve their goals. These interactions elevate and value student voices and their ability to advocate for themselves, ultimately giving students tools to make different choices and think more clearly through the consequences of their actions.
The role that educators currently play puts them on the defense, aiding the legal process by providing information to the justice system. Rather than be on the defensive, educators can achieve their maximum impact by assisting justice-involved students to cultivate better educational and social-emotional skills through developing strong student-teacher-parent relationships and modeling effective problem-solving and social skills. Teachers can’t do this alone though — they need support from support staff, families and community members. By working together, this community can provide the sort of support system that helps justice-involved students thrive and get the support they need, and ultimately fulfill God’s call to protect the vulnerable in our communities.
Kylie Vera is currently a high school English teacher in Virginia. Before this, she taught 8th grade English for two years in Chattanooga, Tenn. through Teach for America. She earned her Masters in Curriculum and Instructional Practice from Lipscomb University in the Summer of 2023. She also has a B.A. in Political Science from Whitworth University with a minor in Theology.