Higher Arrest for African-American Students in NYC Schools

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, the New York City Department of Education arrested 63 students in New York City Middle and High Schools over a 43 day period in the spring of 2011. Black students comprised 68% of those arrested, Hispanics 25% and Caucasian students 3%. The arrested population was overwhelmingly male (82.5%).

While general concern about crime in New York City has waned since the mid-1990s, in the city's minority communities their remains growing concern about police contact with African-American and Hispanic youth. A recent report by the New York Civil Liberties Union found that school suspension rates have soared in the last ten years reaching a high of 73,000 in the 2008-2009 school year. African-American and Hispanic students were disproportionately impacted by school suspensions. Combined both groups made up 88% of all students suspended.

While the NYPD indicates that major crimes in schools are down 49%, there has been no independent evaluation of the impact of this policing strategy in schools. What is clear is that minority youth are finding their way into the justice system at alarming rates for behaviors that white students rarely get arrested for whether in school or out.