School Girl Getting Beaten by a Cop Exposes Alarming Trend of School to Prison Pipeline
The disturbing video of a school girl being grabbed around the neck by a brawny cop, then tossed around and dragged like an animal, represents a complete lack of human decency. This display of brutality was so bad that Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott has asked the FBI to investigate his employee, Deputy Ben Fields.
The video also represents the epitome of a problem that plagues public schools across the nation, known as the “school to prison pipeline.”
The Center for Public Integrity has a detailed analysis of just how many school kids are subject to the oppression of badges, guns, and judges.
“Nationwide, in incidents that rarely get publicly aired, thousands of students are also getting arrested, ticketed, interrogated and searched by police officers, often in connection with minor indiscretions or allegations they were disruptive.
Some police actions involve alarming physical altercations, with kids subdued and handcuffed. Others may be handled without much force. But law-enforcement involvement in school discipline has routinely resulted in kids—some as young as elementary school-age—summoned to court to answer charges that they committed crimes. Frequently, charges include battery or assault in connection with schoolyard fights or disorderly conduct or disturbing the peace at school —issues that some believe should be handled by school officials, not cops.”
At a rate of 5 students per 1,000 being referred to law enforcement, South Carolina (where the above incident happened) ranks just below the national average of 6 per 1,000. The state showed a disproportionately high number of black students referred to cops.
The worst state is Virginia, with a rate of 16 students per 1,000. One school had a shocking 228 students, most between 11 and 14, that were referred to cops. A 12-year-old girl was charged with obstruction of justice for clenching her fist at a cop. 11-year-old Kayleb Moon-Robinson, who is autistic, was slammed to the floor for walking out of class too early, and then was charged with felony assault on a police officer and disorderly conduct.
It has gotten so bad in Virginia that officials have launched an effort to retrain educators and school cops to limit police intervention in behavior problems.
Click on Link:
http://thefreethoughtproject.com/spring-valley-school-video-highlights-devastating-epidemic-school-prison-pipelines/
