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Handcuffs in Hallways: The State of Policing in Chicago Public Schools

February 1, 2017

The relationship between law enforcement and schools in the United States has evolved significantly over the last 60 years. Law enforcement officers, now commonly known as School Resource Officers (SROs), have been permanently assigned to schools in various cities since 1953. Spurred by increases in federal funding, the practice has grown significantly in the last two decades. Although evidence has shown that these officers' presence did not improve school safety, by 1997, approximately 9,446 SROs were assigned to schools throughout the country.Research shows that the mere presence of police officers in school increases the likelihood that a student will be referred to law enforcement for adolescent behavior. School-based arrests, which fall more harshly on students of color, put students in direct contact with the justice system. Poor policing within schools therefore puts students on the fast track to the school-to-prison pipeline.Chicago, a city with a long history of troubled policing, has seen similar growth in the use of police in schools. As of April 2016, 248 police officers were assigned to 75 primary and secondary schools within the Chicago Public Schools (CPS). These officers are not required to have any specialized training other than a working knowledge of the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Code of Conduct.This paper examines the history of school-based policing, its current state, and best practices for school-based safety, with a focus on school policing in the Chicago Public Schools. Because of current problems related to the presence of police officers in schools, it is our recommendation that law enforcement should not be permanently assigned to the Chicago Public Schools. Police should only be contacted when there is a real, immediate threat to a student, a teacher, or public safety. CPS should collaborate with local community stakeholders to define the role of School Resource Officers in the context of the educational mission of our schools. It's time to rethink the role of these law enforcement officers in ensuring safety and security for our school children

The 2007 Poverty Scorecard: Rating Members of Congress

March 11, 2008

The 2007 Poverty Scorecard: Rating Members of Congress assigns letter grades to each member of the United States Senate and House of Representatives according to their voting records on the most important poverty-related issues that came to a vote in 2007, including legislation on affordable housing, health care, education, labor, tax policy and immigrants' rights. With the help of a national advisory board and other anti-poverty experts, the Shriver Center identified and analyzed fourteen critical Senate votes and fifteen critical House votes.Sen. John Edwards endorsed the Shriver Center's Poverty Scorecard, the only national analysis that ranks Members of Congress solely on their performance in fighting poverty, in a teleconference release yesterday. "This Scorecard is important because it looks at a whole range of critical issues, all of which will have to be addressed by the country in order to deal with millions of Americans, more than the population of California, who live in poverty every single day," said Edwards. "We can get the Congressional leadership that we need, but it's absolutely crucial that voters be educated, that they know who's doing the right thing and who's not."

2008 Poverty Scorecard

February 19, 2008

Congress pushed past the distractions of the election year to get more done on poverty-related measures in 2008 than the year before, according to the only national analysis that ranks Members of Congress solely on their performance in fighting poverty, released today.The Shriver Center's 2008 Poverty Scorecard, www.povertyscorecard.org, acts as a year-end report card for every member of Congress. The Scorecard assigns letter grades to each member of the United States Senate and House of Representatives according to their voting records on the most important poverty-related issues that came to a vote in 2008.In the Scorecard, four of the most important anti-poverty bills that Congress considered during 2008 passed both the House and Senate and were signed into law by President Bush. Two more were signed into law after being substantially amended; making a grand total of six important anti-poverty measures that became law. These bills address aspects of the economic downturn such as the housing crisis, unemployment compensation and the impact of high credit costs on students. Although Congress considered more important anti-poverty bills in 2007 than in 2008, only three of them passed both the House and Senate and were signed into law by President Bush."Overcoming poverty is a huge job that requires national leadership now more than ever," said John Bouman, Shriver Center president. "We hope to use the Scorecard to elevate the subject of poverty in the national policy dialogue, educate the public about why certain votes are important to promoting equal opportunity, and improve legislators' voting records by demonstrating that they will have to be accountable on these issues."These votes, as well as in-depth bill summaries, poverty rate by Congressional district, analysis from the Shriver Center, and links to antipoverty resources, make up the interactive website through which users can simply click on a map to learn how well their representatives are working to end poverty:* Although half of all Senators had a perfect A+ voting record and over half of all Representatives ranked an A or A+, only five of the 18 bills in the Scorecard passed both Houses and were signed into law by the President.* Several states with high poverty rates have Congressional delegations that had poor records in supporting measures to fight poverty. (Kentucky's poverty rate is the fifth highest in the country, but its Congressional delegation ranked the 40th lowest of the 50 states.)"No matter what your ideology, I think we all can agree that government needs to take some role in providing economic opportunities to all Americans during a tough financial climate," Bouman concluded. "We are looking for members of Congress to realize their performances on these issues are being assessed."