TY - JOUR
T1 - Policing Education
T2 - An Empirical Review of the Challenges and Impact of the Work of School Police Officers
AU - Javdani, Shabnam
N1 - Funding Information:
Bounded Roles, Supported by Training
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Society for Community Research and Action
Copyright:
Copyright 2019 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2019/6
Y1 - 2019/6
N2 - Public concerns regarding school safety and zero-tolerance education policies have contributed to the growth of a workforce of school police, or frontline school safety professionals who are typically placed in schools with the authority to arrest students (Brown, 2006). Thus, school police represent a workforce positioned at the nexus of multiple systems, including education and juvenile justice, and whose work likely brings them into contact with underserved youth and families. Despite national representation of this growing workforce (e.g., National Association of School Resource Officers), little is known about the responsibilities, roles, training, and influence of school police. This manuscript aims to (a) advance understanding of the school police workforce, including in relation to school police training, needs, roles, and influence, through a systematic review of scholarship in the social sciences, with a focus on peer-reviewed research in education, psychology, social work, criminology, and juvenile justice; and (b) generate empirically supported recommendations integrating key conclusions that pertain specifically to targeting the challenges faced by the school police workforce and identifying the best strategies to enhance safety-related goals while mitigating disproportionate legal and educational consequences for underserved youth and families.
AB - Public concerns regarding school safety and zero-tolerance education policies have contributed to the growth of a workforce of school police, or frontline school safety professionals who are typically placed in schools with the authority to arrest students (Brown, 2006). Thus, school police represent a workforce positioned at the nexus of multiple systems, including education and juvenile justice, and whose work likely brings them into contact with underserved youth and families. Despite national representation of this growing workforce (e.g., National Association of School Resource Officers), little is known about the responsibilities, roles, training, and influence of school police. This manuscript aims to (a) advance understanding of the school police workforce, including in relation to school police training, needs, roles, and influence, through a systematic review of scholarship in the social sciences, with a focus on peer-reviewed research in education, psychology, social work, criminology, and juvenile justice; and (b) generate empirically supported recommendations integrating key conclusions that pertain specifically to targeting the challenges faced by the school police workforce and identifying the best strategies to enhance safety-related goals while mitigating disproportionate legal and educational consequences for underserved youth and families.
KW - Education
KW - Juvenile justice
KW - Policy
KW - School police officers
KW - School resource officers
KW - Youth
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U2 - 10.1002/ajcp.12306
DO - 10.1002/ajcp.12306
M3 - Review article
C2 - 30729533
AN - SCOPUS:85061196376
VL - 63
SP - 253
EP - 269
JO - American Journal of Community Psychology
JF - American Journal of Community Psychology
SN - 0091-0562
IS - 3-4
ER -