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17 Nw. J. L. & Soc. Pol'y 1 (2021-2022)

handle is hein.journals/nwjlsopo17 and id is 1 raw text is: Copyright 2021 by Christina Payne-Tsoupros                           Volume 17 (Fall 2021)
Northwestern Journal of Law and Social Policy
Removing Police From Schools Using State Law
Heightened Scrutiny
Christina Payne-Tsoupros*
ABSTRACT
This Article argues that school police, often called school resource officers, interfere
with the state law right to education and proposes using the constitutional right to
education under state law as a mechanism to remove police from schools.
Disparities in school discipline for Black and brown children are well-known. After
discussing the legal structures of school policing, this Article uses the Disability Critical
Race Theory (DisCrit) theoretical framework developed by Subini Annamma, David
Connor, and Beth Ferri to explain why police are unacceptable in schools. Operating
under the premise that school police are unacceptable, this Article then analyzes
mechanisms to effect the abolition of police in schools, focusing on solutions to school
policing that are consistent with DisCrit principles.
This Article proposes using the state law constitutional right to education as that
mechanism. Every state, in its constitution, provides for some form of a right to education.
While an imperfect solution, this Article considers the state constitutional right to
education as an approach to remove police from schools with broader ramifications for
dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline.
Keywords: school police, resource officers, right to education, state law, heightened
scrutiny, race, Disability Critical Race Theory, abolition, constitutional law, school-to-
prison pipeline
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
I.   STRUCTURE OF SCHOOL POLICING
A. Brief History of School Policing
B. Roles and Effectiveness of SROs
II.  DISCRIT ANALYSIS OF SCHOOL POLICING
A. Disability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit)
B. Using DisCrit to Analyze School Policing
1. Examples of Activism Within the Police Free Schools Movement
2. Abolition Versus Reform
* Visiting Assistant Professor of Law, University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of
Law. Thank you to Derek Black, Joshua Weishart, and Philip Lee for their helpful comments on an earlier
draft of this Article. Thanks also to the editors of the Northwestern Journal of Law and Social Policy for
their work editing this piece. All errors are my own.

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