RJC Resources

In March 2005, Advancement Project released its second report, Education on Lockdown: The Schoolhouse to Jailhouse Track, examining the over use of zero tolerance school discipline policies and the reliance on police and juvenile courts as disciplinarians. According to the report, school districts across the country have teamed up with law enforcement to create this "schoolhouse to jailhouse track" by imposing a "double dose" of punishment - suspensions or expulsions and a trip to the juvenile court - for misconduct that often does not threaten school safety. The report also examines how students of color are disproportionately affected by these policies. Three school systems, Chicago Public Schools, Denver Public Schools, and Palm Beach County Public Schools, are profiled as an example of how the national trends are being enacted at local levels.

Louder than Words: Lawyers, Communities and the Struggle for Justice
Source: Rockefeller Foundation
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Louder than Words: Lawyers, Communities and the Struggle for Justice is a three-year assessment of the state of civil rights litigation in the aftermath of federal civil rights laws and protections commissioned by the Rockefeller Foundation. The report examined six civil rights struggles in which lawyers and communities worked together to address issues of diversity. Louder than Words demonstrated that despite legal protections, for racial and ethnic minorities, structural barriers to opportunities, resources and policymaking remain embedded in political and economic systems.