Black Girls Sent Into Prison Pipeline at Much Higher Rate Than White Girls
The excessive disciplinary actions taken against Black girls leads directly to a disproportionate involvement in the juvenile justice system. According to the 2009-10 Civil Rights Data Collection, although Black girls represented less than 17 percent of all female students, they comprised 31 percent of girls referred to law enforcement and approximately 43 percent of girls who had experienced a school-related arrest. In fact, Black girls are the fastest-growing segment of the juvenile justice system population. Between 1996 and 2011, while the number of juvenile delinquency cases dropped for girls and boys, the girls’ share of all delinquency cases increased from 23 percent to 28 percent. In the same time period, among female juvenile delinquency cases, Black girls’ share of cases increased from 28 percent to 33 percent — an increase of 18 percent — while white girls’ share of cases declined from 68 percent to 64 percent — a decrease of 7 percent.
Much Harsher Suspensions for Black Girls
In the category of disobedience or “disruptive behavior,” Black females received 16.3 out-of-school suspensions and 10.0 in-school suspensions per 100 Black females enrolled, while white females received merely 1.5 out-of-school suspensions and 1.9 in-school suspensions per 100 white females enrolled, according to a report by the National Women’s Law Center and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. And in the same disobedience category, Black females more often received out-of-school suspensions, while white females more often received in-school suspensions. In the category of fighting/violence, there was also a large disparity between Black and white females disciplined with out-of-school suspension.
