Talk back to the teacher, get handcuffed.
If you are a high school student in Meridian, this could very well happen to you. Wednesday, federal civil rights lawyers filed suit against Meridian, Miss., Lauderdale County, the county’s Youth Court judges and the Mississippi Division of Youth Services for denying students basic constitutional rights and sending them to court and incarcerating them for minor school infractions, calling it a “school-to-prison pipeline.”
Some of the alleged unconstitutional acts are children being handcuffed and arrested in school and incarcerated for days without a probable cause hearing, waiting for more than 48 hours for a hearing — in violation of constitutional requirements, children making admissions to formal charges without being advised of their Miranda rights, and not being routinely granted legal representation during the juvenile justice process.
The school district was aware that they were under investigation and was even given a two-month warning to clean up its act or face a federal lawsuit.
Attorneys suggest that the reasoning behind the strict punishment guidelines is racially charged. About 86 percent of the 6,000 students in the Lauderdale County School District are black, but all the students referred to the court are black. This shows there is still a lingering tradition of disproportionately incarcerating blacks, especially in the state of Mississippi. Aside from the legal issues of not taking constitutional steps in processing the juveniles, the actions of the school district set a precedent with the kids that discrimination is alive and well in the state.
Taking extreme measures in punishment and focusing it primarily on minorities will undoubtedly foster a resentment toward government officials and police officers in minority communities. Furthermore, the criminalization of children only leads to more criminals in the future.
A more positive approach to correcting minors would be to foster a better environment for learning as well as being more uplifting to children. Teach the students why what they did was wrong, have a conversation, make them do errands or work around the school while in detention, require them to do hours of community service, tutoring hours, etc. There are a long list of more appropriate, edifying “punishment” for minor school disruptions.
The students and community in Meridian are lucky that the unconstitutional, damaging actions of school board were caught and will soon be corrected.
Anna Rush is a second-year law student from Hattiesburg. She graduated from Mississippi State University in 2011. Follow her on Twitter @annakrush.
