Beyond black and white: Suspension disparities for hispanic, Asian, and white youth

• Published in: Criminal justice review (Atlanta, Ga.) Vol. 43; no. 4; pp. 377 - 398
• Main Authors: Morgan, Mark Alden, Wright, John Paul
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.12.2018
• Subjects: CHILDREN; Discipline; EDUCATION; GENDER INEQUALITY; PRISONS; Race discrimination; RACIAL DISCRIMINATION; School children; Sex discrimination; Student suspension; UNITED STATES; school-to-prison pipeline; racial disparity; school discipline; exclusionary discipline; suspension
• ISSN: 0734-0168; 1556-3839
• DOI: 10.1177/0734016817721293

Studies have consistently found a significant gap between Black and White students in various forms of school discipline. Few studies, however, have examined disciplinary differences between other racial and ethnic groups. Focusing on out-of-school suspensions, a punishment closely linked to the "school-toprison pipeline," we investigate the disparities betweenHispanic, Asian, andWhite youth. Data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class are used to control for contemporary socioeconomic variables, the context of the school environment, and the parent-reported behavior of the student. Through a series of logistic regression models, we found that White students were significantly more likely to be suspended than were Hispanics or Asians. However, while the disparity between Hispanics and Whites was eliminated after controlling for student misbehavior, the gap persisted between Asians and Whites. These results question the contention that systemic racial discrimination is a leading contributor to group differences in school discipline.Moreover,we add to a limited but growing literature showing Asian students are significantly less likely to experience school punishments including suspension.