The Neighborhood and the City The Village and The Town

Last night, while the awful news about Ferguson was being broadcast I was researching the "Broken Windows" theory. Reading the original research and articles on the subject in the Atlantic's archives [see http://holtesthoughts.blogspot.com/2014/11/why-broken-windows-theory-was-corrupted.html] and I saw the same pattern of dysfunction and poor constitution of our Democracy in the way that the information had been applied. I had a "eureka moment" even as I was hearing the anguished cries of youths who feel trapped in neighborhoods where they are treated as colonies of the central government. The Atlantic article was talking about Ferguson! Our neglected towns, villages, countryside and cities all suffer from "broken windows", disinvestment, neglect. And people reacting badly to that sense of despair and abandonment. As the author noted:

"one unrepaired broken window is a signal that no one cares, and so breaking more windows costs nothing. (It has always been fun.)"

The article was suggesting something that local Police Departments are incapable of meeting. Why? Because they aren't local enough. And also why? Because general governments at the local level can't afford to provide the necessary services, and it requires a community to do so completely. As with everything else in our country what is happening in Ferguson's black neighborhoods and also in Ferguson's white neighborhoods, isn't a breakdown in democracy from too little democracy but a breakdown from a failure to replicate republican principles intelligently and fairly. The article states it:

"From the earliest days of the nation, the police function was seen primarily as that of a night watchman: to maintain order against the chief threats to order—fire, wild animals, and disreputable behavior."[Atlantic article]

We used to do it through informal Government agencies, but that was cludgy. Now we don't do it at all for our poor neighborhoods while the rich hire guards and put gates at the entrance of their neighborhoods.

"For centuries, the role of the police as watchmen was judged primarily not in terms of its compliance with appropriate procedures but rather in terms of its attaining a desired objective. The objective was order, an inherently ambiguous term but a condition that people in a given community recognized when they saw it. The means were the same as those the community itself would employ, if its members were sufficiently determined, courageous, and authoritative" [Atlantic article]

The Need for a Security Militia and Volunteerism

It's not like the need hasn't been identified. The Atlantic Article talks at length about the kinds of policing necessary to establish neighborhood order and create healthy neighborhoods. And he is describing a less professional and more volunteer police force. More street beat than police cruiser. More "Guardian Angels" than Officer Francis Muldoon. They put it in historic terms talking about "public order" versus solving crimes. The folks who created the Guardian Angels had hit on the problem. We need to have local law enforcement of local informal ordinances at a level below that of the general government.

I don't propose a return to older policing models. I have something larger in mind, starting with the creation of a local reserve police constabulary. The Atlantic Article talked about what happened when DC implemented Foot patrols:

"Five years after the program started, the Police Foundation, in Washington, D.C., published an evaluation of the foot-patrol project. Based on its analysis of a carefully controlled experiment carried out chiefly in Newark, the foundation concluded, to the surprise of hardly anyone, that foot patrol had not reduced crime rates. But residents of the foot patrolled neighborhoods seemed to feel more secure than persons in other areas, tended to believe that crime had been reduced, and seemed to take fewer steps to protect themselves from crime (staying at home with the doors locked, for example). Moreover, citizens in the foot-patrol areas had a more favorable opinion of the police than did those living elsewhere. And officers walking beats had higher morale, greater job satisfaction, and a more favorable attitude toward citizens in their neighborhoods than did officers assigned to patrol cars"

The beat officers weren't effective in arresting people. That was the job of detectives and they needed help from backup in cruisers to deal with major crimes or chase down infractions. But what they could do was to establish and maintain local order. The Atlantic article goes at lengths to envision what this order should look like and I talked about this yesterday but what we need are local constabulary. Local officers who can act as neighborhood watchmen, do patrols, and who have the "real police" as backups. We already have this in some suburbs. Trayvon was murdered by such a local constable. But you see that indicates why this needs to be part of a police reserve function. Zimmerman was a poorly trained reserve with no local authority. A young man like Trayvon saw him and he had no local authority, he probably saw him as some stupid punk sticking his nose in other people's business. A local constabulary would be as well trained as the police. Just volunteer, auxiliary and local.

But as the incident with Trayvon last year illustrated. Neighborhood watches aren't enough. The old method of policing where police wore police, judge and executioner hats at the same time was no more just than current policing. The Atlantic Article also notes that the old constables who were in place before "modern" professional policing were often brutal and the rules varied from neighborhood to neighborhood in arbitrary ways. What I'm talking about is applying the principles of replication and subsidiarism. The role of a beat cop is necessary to neighborhoods and local governance. But that should be the province of local governors and neighborhoods. Not the general government. The city "general government" should be there to support local government and to intervene when locals are over their heads, not as first response. The beat cop should be a local militia function not a citywide function. But the local militia should be organized as Hamilton and the constitution suggest:

"provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress"

We need a Judicial Militia, organized on constitutional principles. At the local level we need constables, but we also need volunteer barristers, local justices who can act as either impromptu judges or mediate disputes. No person should combine in their person "judge, jury and executioner" -- that is a constitutional principle that is behind separation of powers. If Ferguson, instead of having a large, scared and "professional" police force who never leave their cars except when arresting someone, had neighborhood watchmen and proctors or informal justices (this is the principle of volunteerism, one volunteers, is trained at State Level and maybe Federal Level, and then released into the local reserves) backed by local informal legislatures each headed by a councilman from that subdivision -- we'd see a different kind of law enforcement and more community participation. We also need a health and ER militia and to bring back volunteer fire and rescue companies, but that is for another days argument. The "Guardian Angels" were on the right path. Instead of the professionals fearing them and marginalizing them we should train them, pay them for "such part as employed" in Governing, and set them up as an auxilliary and adjunct to local police forces.

I have to keep this post short as I want people to read it. So I'll stop now, but we have to reestablish the primary importance and separate role of neighborhoods in governing cities, towns and the country.

Why Broken Windows Theory was corrupted

Introduction

I haven't commented on the Broken Windows Theory, despite seeing a marked decline in the quality of Law enforcement in recent years attributed at least in part to the crazy implementation of it. But I remedied that neglect recently when I realized what I was hearing didn't make sense and started digging. I first heard of the "Broken Windows Theory in the context of Rudy Giuliani's crackdown on crime a few years back. The way it was presented, if they catch criminals doing minor crimes they can stop major crimes.

Pre-Emptive Law Enforcement

The result of this theory was that a lot of "criminals" were taken off the street in what seemed pre-emptive enforcement. Like the "Pre-crime" methods of that Awful movie "Minority Report" with Tom Cruise. Of course "pre-crime" violates fundamental principles of justice including 4th and 5th amendment protections. And Giuliani's measures were oppressive in far greater proportion to any benefit from them. Indeed "Broken Windows" philosophy and the related "zero tolerance" attitude has led to jails being filled up with people convicted of minor crimes, while major crimes continue to go unpunished. Major crimes are usually committed in offices of major banks or companies in this country. Despite abundant evidence that Zero Tolerance doesn't work at either the School level or in law enforcement, it is popular among disciplinary authorities.

Zero Tolerance

I just shared a report that shows how and why Zero Tolerance in Schools is a dysfunctional policy. [http://holtesthoughts.blogspot.com/2014/11/zero-tolerance-is-failed-concept.html] It appears that what makes the broken windows concept a failure is that it too is based on some of the same false assumptions and worse policies as the "Zero Tolerance" policy is based on. I first started writing about that when I remembered my own awful experience with bullying and school dysfunction as a kid that I alluded to back in August: ["Bullying and what to do about it"]. It appears that the schools are even less clueless about dealing with these subjects than they were when I was a kid. And they were pretty clueless then!

But what contributes to the injustice in the Judicial system are two theories entertwined both of which are intensely destructive. If Zero Tolerance is dysfunctional in Schools. The "School to prison pipeline" also includes a "Zero Tolerance" minor crimes to long prison sentences also based on the Zero Tolerance society. This time expressed in "Three Strikes you're out" sentencing guidelines.

What's wrong with "Broken Windows Theory"?

The theories claim t obe based on an article written in the Atlantic in 1983, http://www.lantm.lth.se/fileadmin/fastighetsvetenskap/utbildning/Fastighetsvaerderingssystem/BrokenWindowTheory.pdf The author made two observations:

" First, outside observers should not assume that they know how much of the anxiety now endemic in many big-city neighborhoods stems from a fear of "real" crime and how much from a sense that the street is disorderly, a source of distasteful, worrisome encounters. The people of Newark, to judge from their behavior and their remarks to interviewers, apparently assign a high value to public order, and feel relieved and reassured when the police help them maintain that order."

Enforceing a Feeling of Safety

In other words, foot patrols and community policing "helped" best when it made the "regulars" feel safer, from "strangers" as well as from real criminals.

"Second, at the community level, disorder and crime are usually inextricably linked, in a kind of developmental sequence. Social psychologists and police officers tend to agree that if a window in a building is broken and is left unrepaired, all the rest of the windows will soon be broken. This is as true in nice neighborhoods as in rundown ones. Window-breaking does not necessarily occur on a large scale because some areas are inhabited by determined window-breakers whereas others are populated by window-lovers; rather, one unrepaired broken window is a signal that no one cares, and so breaking more windows costs nothing. (It has always been fun.)" [Atlantic Article page 2]

Misrepresenting the Theory

From reading this article, authorities and Folks like William Bratton decided to interpret the "Broken Windows theory" as a theory of protecting communities by arresting people for petty crimes.

"Bratton and others expanded the meaning of this metaphorical window to include the common, victimless but troublesome crimes that occur every day in urban areas. Order begets accountability, the theory goes; disorder begets crime. So, enforcing the smallest laws could prevent the large ones from being broken. As head of the Transit Police, Bratton had zero tolerance for graffiti and turnstile-jumping. As head of the NYPD, he cracked down on so-called “squeegee men.” (Kelling, one of the authors of the original Atlantic article, had also been earlier hired by New York City as a consultant.) Violent crime dropped 51 percent in New York City in the 1990s, and homicide dropped 72 percent. These impressive results gave both the broken windows theory and the policies it inspired the sheen of unassailability." [http://www.psmag.com/navigation/politics-and-law/breaking-broken-windows-theory-72310/]

But is this what Wilson and Kelling were talking about?

James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling's article?

The Atlantic article broken Glass Theory was not directly about arresting squeegie men and vagrants, but was about the concept of order and whether communities feel safe or not. When people have a sense of ownership they fix their windows, mow their lawns and take care of their property, because they have a stake in that neighborhood. So the people talking about community policing and empowering citizens took their cues from this article that the way to reduce crime is to give people ownership of their property. Crudely that means moving them to houses with mortgages. But it also could have meant giving people the right to have title to their homes even when someone else owns the building. They do that in Argentina. Here it's confined to Condos. But anyone who studies urban areas knows that owned and occupied buildings are better taken care of than abandoned or rented buildings.

Testing the Theory

"Philip Zimbardo, a Stanford psychologist, reported in 1969 on some experiments testing the broken-window theory. He arranged to have an automobile without license plates parked with its hood up on a street in the Bronx and a comparable automobile on a street in Palo Alto, California." [Atl page 2]

Sure enough the car in the Bronx:

"was attacked by 'vandals' within ten minutes of its "abandonment." The first to arrive were a family—father, mother, and young son—who removed the radiator and battery. Within twenty-four hours, virtually everything of value had been removed. Then random destruction began—windows were smashed, parts torn off, upholstery ripped. Children began to use the car as a playground. Most of the adult "vandals" were well-dressed, apparently clean-cut whites." [Atlantic Article page 2]

Disorderly Conditions invite Crime

Yes, plant an abandoned car in a neglected and blighted neighborhood was seen as fair game. But what happened in Palo Alto was interesting:

"The car in Palo Alto sat untouched for more than a week. Then Zimbardo smashed part of it with a sledgehammer. Soon, passersby were joining in. Within a few hours, the car had been turned upside down and utterly destroyed. Again, the "vandals" appeared to be primarily respectable whites. Untended property becomes fair game for people out for fun or plunder and even for people who ordinarily would not dream of doing such things and who probably consider themselves law-abiding. Because of the nature of community life in the Bronx—its anonymity, the frequency with which cars are abandoned and things are stolen or broken, the past experience of "no one caring"—vandalism begins much more quickly than it does in staid Palo Alto, where people have come to believe that private possessions are cared for, and that mischievous behavior is costly. But vandalism can occur anywhere once communal barriers—the sense of mutual regard and the obligations of civility—are lowered by actions that seem to signal that "no one cares." [Atlantic Article page 2]

People Care About Neighborhoods that are cared for

So far so good. I don't think anyone would disagree that the sociology of crime requires that people care about their neighborhoods and that care be put into them. When a city is disinvested in, such as happening in Detroit, the effects become much the same. It's like breaking a window in an abandoned car. Only it's the whole city. If nobody cares, everyone acts as a pirate. The rules are turned off. Something similar would happen if our country fell apart in say a "Zombie Apocalypse." The default for human society is tribal behavior with families looking out for themselves.

Tended Versus Untended Behavior

The Atlantic article goes on to say:

"We suggest that "untended" behavior also leads to the breakdown of community controls. A stable neighborhood of families who care for their homes, mind each other's children, and confidently frown on unwanted intruders can change, in a few years or even a few months, to an inhospitable and frightening jungle. A piece of property is abandoned, weeds grow up, a window is smashed. Adults stop scolding rowdy children; the children, emboldened, become more rowdy. Families move out, unattached adults move in. Teenagers gather in front of the corner store. The merchant asks them to move; they refuse. Fights occur. Litter accumulates. People start drinking in front of the grocery; in time, an inebriate slumps to the sidewalk and is allowed to sleep it off. Pedestrians are approached by panhandlers."[Atlantic Article]

You'd think they'd prioritize Fixing Broken Windows?

So the Broken Window theory started out as a perfectly valid observation that one would think would lead to community investment, empowering people to stake out empty homes and move in and homestead them.

The article goes on to explain how neighborhoods go downhill:

"At this point it is not inevitable that serious crime will flourish or violent attacks on strangers will occur. But many residents will think that crime, especially violent crime, is on the rise, and they will modify their behavior accordingly. They will use the streets less often, and when on the streets will stay apart from their fellows, moving with averted eyes, silent lips, and hurried steps. "Don't get involved." For some residents, this growing atomization will matter little, because the neighborhood is not their "home" but "the place where they live." Their interests are elsewhere; they are cosmopolitans. But it will matter greatly to other people, whose lives derive meaning and satisfaction from local attachments rather than worldly involvement; for them, the neighborhood will cease to exist except for a few reliable friends whom they arrange to meet." [Atlantic Article]

Why didn't it turn out that way?

The article went on to describe the history of Urban Decay:

"The process we call urban decay has occurred for centuries in every city. But what is happening today is different in at least two important respects. First, in the period before, say, World War II, city dwellers- because of money costs, transportation difficulties, familial and church connections—could rarely move away from neighborhood problems. When movement did occur, it tended to be along public-transit routes. Now mobility has become exceptionally easy for all but the poorest or those who are blocked by racial prejudice. Earlier crime waves had a kind of built-in self-correcting mechanism: the determination of a neighborhood or community to reassert control over its turf. Areas in Chicago, New York, and Boston would experience crime and gang wars, and then normalcy would return, as the families for whom no alternative residences were possible reclaimed their authority over the streets." [Atlantic Article]

"Second, the police in this earlier period assisted in that reassertion of authority by acting, sometimes violently, on behalf of the community. Young toughs were roughed up, people were arrested "on suspicion" or for vagrancy, and prostitutes and petty thieves were routed. "Rights" were something enjoyed by decent folk, and perhaps also by the serious professional criminal, who avoided violence and could afford a lawyer."

Then he makes this point:

"This pattern of policing was not an aberration or the result of occasional excess. From the earliest days of the nation, the police function was seen primarily as that of a night watchman: to maintain order against the chief threats to order—fire, wild animals, and disreputable behavior. Solving crimes was viewed not as a police responsibility but as a private one. In the March, 1969, Atlantic, one of us (Wilson) wrote a brief account of how the police role had slowly changed from maintaining order to fighting crimes. The change began with the creation of private detectives (often ex-criminals), who worked on a contingency-fee basis for individuals who had suffered losses. In time, the detectives were absorbed in municipal agencies and paid a regular salary simultaneously, the responsibility for prosecuting thieves was shifted from the aggrieved private citizen to the professional prosecutor. This process was not complete in most places until the twentieth century." [Atlantic Article]

He goes on to say that as important as the role of solving crimes is in modern policing, the primary role of police traditionally has been in order maintenance:

"A great deal was accomplished during this transition, as both police chiefs and outside experts emphasized the crime fighting function in their plans, in the allocation of resources, and in deployment of personnel. The police may well have become better crime-fighters as a result. And doubtless they remained aware of their responsibility for order. But the link between order-maintenance and crime-prevention, so obvious to earlier generations, was forgotten." [Atlantic Article]

All true and he goes on:

"That link is similar to the process whereby one broken window becomes many. The citizen who fears the ill-smelling drunk, the rowdy teenager, or the importuning beggar is not merely expressing his distaste for unseemly behavior; he is also giving voice to a bit of folk wisdom that happens to be a correct generalization—namely, that serious street crime flourishes in areas in which disorderly behavior goes unchecked. The unchecked panhandler is, in effect, the first broken window. Muggers and robbers, whether opportunistic or professional, believe they reduce their chances of being caught or even identified if they operate on streets where potential victims are already intimidated by prevailing conditions. If the neighborhood cannot keep a bothersome panhandler from annoying passersby, the thief may reason, it is even less likely to call the police to identify a potential mugger or to interfere if the mugging actually takes place." [Atlantic Article]

The Atlantic Article was not advocating arresting vagrants and squeegie men

So we can see how this article spawned both the community policing model and more nasty policies. If the theory is that the way to reduce crime is to remove the panhandlers, lock up the vandals and thus make the neighborhood feel safer from crime -- then that becomes the focus of law enforcement. But the fact is that the Atlantic argument was not endorsing the policies that cite it. On the contrary the author noted:

"Some police administrators concede that this process occurs, but argue that motorized-patrol officers can deal with it as effectively as foot patrol officers. We are not so sure. In theory, an officer in a squad car can observe as much as an officer on foot; in theory, the former can talk to as many people as the latter. But the reality of police-citizen encounters is powerfully altered by the automobile. An officer on foot cannot separate himself from the street people; if he is approached, only his uniform and his personality can help him manage whatever is about to happen. And he can never be certain what that will be—a request for directions, a plea for help, an angry denunciation, a teasing remark, a confused babble, a threatening gesture." [Atlantic Article]

But a police officer with a cruiser can come in shoot unarmed teenagers or the local vagrants. And can't tell the difference between "neighbors" and "strangers." Those who practice "Broken Window" policing ignore the core of what Broken Window theory was about. The author could have been describing events in Ferguson or any town where people feel the police as oppressive:

"In a car, an officer is more likely to deal with street people by rolling down the window and looking at them. The door and the window exclude the approaching citizen; they are a barrier. Some officers take advantage of this barrier, perhaps unconsciously, by acting differently if in the car than they would on foot. We have seen this countless times. The police car pulls up to a corner where teenagers are gathered. The window is rolled down. The officer stares at the youths. They stare back. The officer says to one, "C'mere." He saunters over, conveying to his friends by his elaborately casual style the idea that he is not intimidated by authority. What's your name?" "Chuck." "Chuck who?" "Chuck Jones." "What'ya doing, Chuck?" "Nothin'." "Got a P.O. [parole officer]?" "Nah." "Sure?" "Yeah." "Stay out of trouble, Chuckie." Meanwhile, the other boys laugh and exchange comments among themselves, probably at the officer's expense. The officer stares harder. He cannot be certain what is being said, nor can he join in and, by displaying his own skill at street banter, prove that he cannot be "put down." In the process, the officer has learned almost nothing, and the boys have decided the officer is an alien force who can safely be disregarded, even mocked." [Atlantic Article]

Worse the Officer in a cruiser is an outsider. He is the stranger. Talking to the officer no longer becomes talking to a familiar and trusted figure:

"Our experience is that most citizens like to talk to a police officer. Such exchanges give them a sense of importance, provide them with the basis for gossip, and allow them to explain to the authorities what is worrying them (whereby they gain a modest but significant sense of having "done something" about the problem). You approach a person on foot more easily, and talk to him more readily, than you do a person in a car. Moreover, you can more easily retain some anonymity if you draw an officer aside for a private chat. Suppose you want to pass on a tip about who is stealing handbags, or who offered to sell you a stolen TV. In the inner city, the culprit, in all likelihood, lives nearby. To walk up to a marked patrol car and lean in the window is to convey a visible signal that you are a "fink."

The authors next point is just as important:

"The essence of the police role in maintaining order is to reinforce the informal control mechanisms of the community itself. The police cannot, without committing extraordinary resources, provide a substitute for that informal control. On the other hand, to reinforce those natural forces the police must accommodate them. And therein lies the problem"

The authors then ask an important question:

Should police activity on the street be shaped, in important ways, by the standards of the neighborhood rather than by the rules of the state?

"Over the past two decades, the shift of police from order-maintenance to law enforcement has brought them increasingly under the influence of legal restrictions, provoked by media complaints and enforced by court decisions and departmental orders. As a consequence, the order maintenance functions of the police are now governed by rules developed to control police relations with suspected criminals."

And this leads to the police treating entire neighborhoods as if everyone in that neighborhood was a criminal with the result that instead of a "serve and protect" attitude police come to treat such neighborhoods as occupied territory where everyone is suspect.

"For centuries, the role of the police as watchmen was judged primarily not in terms of its compliance with appropriate procedures but rather in terms of its attaining a desired objective. The objective was order, an inherently ambiguous term but a condition that people in a given community recognized when they saw it. The means were the same as those the community itself would employ, if its members were sufficiently determined, courageous, and authoritative"

But the police cruiser ensconced, occupying policeman is not concerned with order. He's concerned with survival, with procedure, with arresting and prosecuting "perpetrators". They go on to detail their own opinions about what was happening. And I suggest people read the Atlantic article before judging it on the basis of what folks have done with their recommendations. Because their warnings are cogent:

"Above all, we must return to our long-abandoned view that the police ought to protect communities as well as individuals. Our crime statistics and victimization surveys measure individual losses, but they do not measure communal losses. Just as physicians now recognize the importance of fostering health rather than simply treating illness, so the police—and the rest of us—ought to recognize the importance of maintaining, intact, communities without broken windows"

Rudy Giuliani and other police officials don't seem to have read this report carefully. Or disregarded it. Because the report recommended community policing and other policies aimed at fixing the windows and making people feel at home. Not what these people have done with the term. Which has been conflated with "Zero Tolerance" and "profiling" nonsense -- and essentially doing the opposite of what the Atlantic recommended. In the name of the "Broken Windows Theory the Article "Breaking down the Broken Window Theory" Police commissioners like William J. Bratton stripped the heart out of Broken Window Theory by reductio ad absurdum. Rather than involve officers in establishing order and community policing they decided that the way to reduce crime was to arrest the folks who broke the windows. For example he says:

"We are not targeting communities of color, we are targeting behavior," Bratton said. "And the behavior is things that are prohibited by law, breaking the law." [http://www.cbsnews.com/news/nypd-commissioner-bill-bratton-on-eric-garner-chokehold-arrest-broken-windows-policing/]

But you see, he's not making the community feel safer, fixing broken windows, or restoring what the community would consider order. He's imposing a rule from outside very much like the kind that Wilson and Kelling warned about.

Ferguson is an example of what happens when officers aren't part of community order.

http://www.lantm.lth.se/fileadmin/fastighetsvetenskap/utbildning/Fastighetsvaerderingssystem/BrokenWindowTheory.pdf

http://www.psmag.com/navigation/politics-and-law/breaking-broken-windows-theory-72310/

Who rules America

I'm just writing this post so I don't have to duplicate anything. Someone has done the work and consolidated in nice presentations:

http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html

This image says it all:

Src:http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/images/wealth/Net_worth_and_financial_wealth.gif

Unfortunately the chart shows -- it's not "we the people" ruling our country.

Zero Tolerance is a Failed Concept

"Zero tolerance" ideology has been a disaster. It has led to jails being filled up with people convicted of minor crimes, while major crimes continue to go unpunished. It also has impacted our education system awfully. I talked about fighting bullying in a previous post "Bullying and What to do about it". But that post only illustrated how much a loser zero tolerance education is. Further support comes from research.

Zero Tolerance Fails

Evidence shows that Zero Tolerance policies in schools have major issues.

[This section quote references a paper by the APA: [http://www.apa.org/pubs/info/reports/zero-tolerance-report.pdf ( "Are Zero Tolerance Policies Effective in the Schools? An Evidentiary Review and Recommendations" )]

Question: "Have zero tolerance policies made schools safer and more effective in handling disciplinary issues?"

"In general, data tended to contradict the presumptions made in applying a zero tolerance approach..."

The paper notes that most of Zero Tolerance concepts are based on faulty assumptions.

Faulty Assumption 1. Violence out of control

"School violence is at a serious level and increasing, thus necessitating forceful, no-nonsense strategies for violence prevention."

Reality:

"the evidence does not support an assumption that violence in schools is out-of-control."

Faulty Assumption 2. Zero Tolerance improves Discipline consistency

"Through the provision of mandated punishment for certain offenses, zero tolerance increases the consistency of school discipline and thereby the clarity of the disciplinary message to students."

Reality:

"The evidence strongly suggests, however, that zero tolerance has not increased the consistency of school discipline. Rather, rates of suspension and expulsion vary widely across schools and school districts. Moreover, this variation appears to be due as much to characteristics of schools and school personnel as to the behavior or attitudes of students. "

Faulty Assumption 3. Removal of Students will improve learning environment for remaining students.

"Removal of students who violate school rules will create a school climate more conducive to learning for those students who remain."

Reality:

"data ... have shown the opposite effect, ... schools with higher rates of school suspension and expulsion appear to have less satisfactory ratings of school climate, less satisfactory school governance structures, and to spend a disproportionate amount of time on disciplinary matters."

Worse:

"research indicates a negative relationship between the use of school suspension and expulsion and school-wide academic achievement..."

Not only are the expulsed impacted negatively, but the reality turns out that the remaining students also receive a poorer education than expected.

Faulty Assumption 4. Swift and certain punishments of zero tolerance is a deterrent

"The swift and certain punishments of zero tolerance have a deterrent effect upon students, thus improving overall student behavior and discipline"

Reality:

"Rather than reducing the likelihood of disruption however, school suspension in general appears to predict higher future rates of misbehavior and suspension among those students who are suspended. In the long term, school suspension and expulsion are moderately associated with a higher likelihood of school dropout and failure to graduate on time."

It doesn't work as intended.

Faulty Assumption 5: Parents Support Zero Tolerance and Students Feel Safer

"Parents overwhelmingly support the implementation of zero tolerance policies to ensure the safety of schools, and students feel safer knowing that transgressions will be dealt with in no uncertain terms."

Reality:

"The data regarding this assumption are mixed and inconclusive. Media accounts and some survey results suggest that parents and the community will react strongly in favor of increased disciplinary punishments if they fear that their children’s safety is at stake. "

But on the other hand:

"On the other hand, communities surrounding schools often react highly negatively if they perceive that students’ right to an education is being threatened. Although some students appear to make use of suspension or expulsion as an opportunity to examine their own behavior, the available evidence also suggests that students in general regard school suspension and expulsion as ineffective and unfair"

Question 2: What has been the impact of ZT on students of color and students with disabilities?

Part of the appeal of zero tolerance policies has been that, by removing subjective influences or contextual factors from disciplinary decisions, such policies would be expected to be fairer to students traditionally over-represented in school disciplinary consequences.

Reality about Minorities:

" Rather, the disproportionate discipline of students of color continues to be a concern and may be increasing; over-representation in suspension and expulsion has been found consistently for African American students and less consistently for Latino students. The evidence shows that such disproportionality is not due entirely to economic disadvantage, nor is there any data supporting the assumption that African American students exhibit higher rates of disruption or violence that would warrant higher rates of discipline. Rather, African American students may be disciplined more severely for less serious or more subjective reasons. Emerging professional opinion and qualitative research findings suggest that the disproportionate discipline of students of color may be due to lack of teacher preparation in classroom management or cultural competence."

Reality about children with disabilities:

"students with disabilities, especially those with emotional and behavioral disorders, appear to be suspended and expelled at rates disproportionate to their representation in the population. "

Question 3: To what extent are zero tolerance policies developmentally appropriate as a psychological intervention, taking into account the developmental level of children and youth?

Reality

"Children are not developmentally mature enough to respond to Zero Tolerance as ASSUMEd

"Research relevant to juvenile offending has found extensive evidence of developmental immaturity. Particularly before the age of 15, adolescents appear to display psychosocial immaturity in at least four areas:"

1. poor resistance to peer influence,
2. attitudes toward and perception of risk,
3. future orientation,
4. and impulse control.

Evidence from Neuroscience

"The case for psychosocial immaturity during adolescence is also supported by evidence from developmental neuroscience indicating that the brain structures of adolescents are less well-developed than previously thought. Developmental neuroscientists believe that if a particular structure of the brain is still immature, then the functions that it governs will also show immaturity; that is, adolescents may be expected to take greater risks and reason less adequately about the consequences of their behavior."

Secondary Schools have structural Challenges

"a growing body of developmental research indicates that certain characteristics of secondary schools often are at odds with the developmental challenges of adolescence, which include the need for close peer relationships, autonomy, support from adults other than one’s parents, identity negotiation, and academic self-efficacy."

And those Structural Challenges are Aggravated by Zero Tolerance, not moderated

"Used inappropriately, zero tolerance policies can exacerbate both the normative challenges of early adolescence and the potential mismatch between the adolescent’s developmental stage and the structure of secondary schools."

Zero Tolerance doesn't do justice to the learning ability of young people and their immaturity:

"There is no doubt that many incidents that result in disciplinary infractions at the secondary level are due to poor judgment on the part of the adolescent involved."

If we were dealing with adults "zero tolerance" might be more plausible, but we are dealing with children and:

But if that judgment is the result of developmental or neurological immaturity, and if the resulting behavior does not pose a threat to safety, it is reasonable to weigh the importance of a particular consequence against the long-term negative consequences of zero tolerance policies, especially when such lapses in judgment appear to be developmentally normative."

Instead of punitive, arbitrary enforcement of rules in an extreme manner. it looks like our High Schools ought to be using the Secondary School system as a means of coaching, mentoring and also leverage peer group influence by involving them in their own government and making htat a teaching opportunity. [See my post: Bullying and What to do about it (near end of post) where I talk about setting up courts in the High Schools. Given this reports recommendations that is not a crank idea.] Let the kids run their own justice and make it a teaching opportunity with some justice and forgiveness involved.

Question 4. How has zero tolerance affected the relationship between education and the juvenile justice system?

Reality:

"There is evidence that the introduction of zero tolerance policies has affected the delicate balance between the educational and juvenile justice systems.

Increased reiance on Security personnel, technology and profiling

Zero tolerance policies appear to have increased the use and reliance in schools on strategies such as security technology, security personnel, and profiling.

Reality:

"there is as yet virtually no empirical data examining the extent to which such programs result in safer schools or more satisfactory school climate."

Profiling

Zero tolerance may have also increased the use of profiling, a method of prospectively identifying students who may be at-risk of violence or disruption by comparison to profiles of others who have engaged in such behavior in the past. Studies by the U. S. Secret Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and researchers in the area of threat assessment have consistently found that it is impossible to construct reliable profiles that can be of assistance in promoting school safety. Rather, best-evidence recommendations have consistently focused on the emerging technology of threat assessment, which can assist school personnel in determining the degree to which a given threat or incident constitutes a serious danger to the school"

Profiling has tended to be unprofessional (seems professional but is usually based on assumptions equally fallacious to those listed above) and discriminatory. Those engaging in it aren't always professional (or as professional as they think they are) and thus tend to behave in racist, xenophobic, religoiusly chauvinistic, or in other culturally biased ways. Talking about profiling has come to be seen as synonymous to racism in most quarters outside those wedded to these faulty ideas.

School to Prison Pipeline

Consequently the article notes:

"The increased reliance on more severe consequences in response to student disruption has also resulted in an increase of referrals to the juvenile justice system for infractions that were once handled in school."

This is "termed the school-to-prison pipeline.

"Research indicates that many schools appear to be using the juvenile justice system to a greater extent and, in a relatively large percentage of cases, the school-based infractions for which juvenile justice is called upon are not those that would generally be considered dangerous or threatening."

This has a number of issues;

"questions... about whether or not these referred youths’ constitutional rights have been respected fully."

The authors of course call for more research, but the impact of this is to damage the folks demonized by prison, and also lead to corruption of the system as some judges have been convicted of profiting from that "school to prison" pipeline through kickbacks or investments in privateering Prison Industries.

Question What has been the impact—both negative and positive—of zero tolerance policies on students, families and communities?

They believe that there is negative influence on the mental health of youth subject to Zero Tolerance:

"there are a number of reasons to be concerned that such policies may create, enhance, or accelerate negative mental health outcomes for youth."

Zero Tolerance is not cost effective:

"preliminary estimates suggest that the extensive use of suspension and expulsion and increased reliance on the juvenile justice system for school misbehavior may not be cost effective. To the extent that school infractions lead to increased contact with the juvenile justice system, the cost of treatment appears to escalate dramatically."

Question 6. What are the Alternatives to Zero Tolerance?

The report notes that there are a number of alternatives. And the authors recommend a "three level model of primary prevention"

1. Primary prevention strategies targeted at all students,
2. Secondary prevention strategies that are targeted at those students who may be at-risk for violence or disruption, and
3. Tertiary strategies that target those students who have already engaged in disruptive or violent behavior.

And three levels of intervention:

1. Bullying prevention (primary)
2. threat assessment (secondary)
3. restorative justice (tertiary)

I'll skip the Recommendations (they're at the end of this post). But essentially we need to fix the disciplinary system in our schools. I think this can be done in a way that makes discipline part of the education process. But most important that treats children with respect and understand that their personae and moral stance is not fixed and that they should not be judged in a prejudiced manner.

Study recommendation

"The accumulated evidence points to a clear need for a change in how zero tolerance policies are applied and toward the need for a set of alternative practices. It is time to make the shifts in policy, practice, and research to implement policies that can keep schools safe and preserve the opportunity to learn for all students."

Zero tolerance doesn't work.

Study suggestions

Read the report at: http://www.apa.org/pubs/info/reports/zero-tolerance-report.pdf

A. Reforming Zero Tolerance Policies
A.1 Practice
A.1.1 Apply zero tolerance policies with greater flexibility, taking context
and the expertise of teachers and school administrators into account.
A.1.2 Teachers and other professional staff who have regular contact with
students on a personal level should be the first line of communication with
parents and caregivers regarding disciplinary incidents.
A.1.3 Define all infractions, whether major or minor, carefully, and train all
staff in appropriate means of handling each infraction.
A.1.4 Evaluate all school discipline or school violence prevention strategies
to ensure that all disciplinary interventions, programs, or strategies are
truly impacting student behavior and school safety.
A.2. Policy
A. 2. 1 Reserve zero tolerance disciplinary removals for only the most
serious and severe of disruptive behaviors. Zero Tolerance Task Force Report 13
A.2.2 Replace one-size-fits all disciplinary strategies with graduated
systems of discipline, wherein consequences are geared to the seriousness
of the infraction.

A.2.3 Require school police officers who work in schools to have training in
adolescent development.
A.3 Research
A.3.1 Develop more systematic prospective studies on outcomes for
children who are suspended or expelled from school due to zero tolerance
policies.
A.3.2 Expand research on the connections between the education and
juvenile justice system and in particular empirically test the support for an
hypothesized school-to-prison pipeline.
A.3.3 Conduct research at the national level on disproportionate minority
exclusion, or the extent to which school districts' use of zero tolerance
disproportionately targets youth of color, particularly African American
males.
A.3.4 Conduct research on disproportionate exclusion by disability status,
specifically investigating the extent to which use of zero tolerance increases
the disproportionate discipline of students with disabilities, and explore the
extent to which differential rates of removal are due to intra-student factors
versus systems factors.
A.3.5. Conduct research to enhance understanding of the potential
differential effects of zero tolerance policies by student gender.
A.3.6 Conduct econometric studies or cost-benefit analyses designed to
explore the relative benefits of school removal for school climate as
compared to the cost to society of removal of disciplined students from
school.
B. Alternatives to Zero Tolerance
B.1 Practice
B.1.1 Implement preventive measures that can improve school climate and
improve the sense of school community and belongingness.
B.1.2 Seek to reconnect alienated youth and re-establish the school bond
for students at-risk of discipline problems or violence. Use threat
assessment procedures to identify the level of risk posed by student words.

B.1.3 Develop a planned continuum of effective alternatives for those
students whose behavior threatens the discipline or safety of the school. Zero Tolerance Task Force Report 14
B.1.4 Improve collaboration and communication between schools, parents,
law enforcement, juvenile justice and mental health professionals to
develop an array of alternatives for challenging youth.
B.2 Policy
B.2.1 Legislative initiatives should clarify that schools are encouraged to
provide an array of disciplinary alternatives prior to school suspension and
expulsion and, to the extent possible, increase resources to schools for
implementing a broader range of alternatives, especially prevention.
B.2.2 Increase training for teachers in classroom behavior management and
culturally-sensitive pedagogy.
B.2.3 Increase training for teachers, administrators and other school
personnel to address sensitivity related to issues of race.
B.2.4 Increase training on issues related to harassment and sexual
harassment for teachers, administrators and other school personnel.
B.3 Research
B.3.1 Conduct systematic efficacy research including quasi-experimental
and randomized designs to compare academic and behavioral outcomes of
programs with and without zero tolerance policies and practices.
B.3.2 Increase attention to research regarding the implementation of
alternatives to zero tolerance. What are the best and most logistically
feasible ways to implement alternative programs in schools?
B.3.3 Conduct outcome research focused on the effects and effectiveness
of various approaches to school discipline, not only for schools, but also for
families and the long-term functioning of children. 

A Democratic Process

The people who oversee elections are usually called "Election Judges" for a week. Elections have to be adjudicated by non-partisan, neutral, professional people who either have no stake in the outcome and can weigh facts or can set aside their feelings and behave judiciously. The problem with our current election systems is that the neutrality of this election process is often a sham. Not just between the parties in the main election but from beginning to end and top down. We use a privateering corporate approach to elections that subverts efforts to protect process and ensure that everyone in the country is represented. Our politicians are mostly in it for themselves, and that is okay. We who aren't running for office should provide the checks and balances on their behavior, because otherwise they'll fight about everything except when they pause to loot us.

I'm working on an alternative that will work. And I've examined the glossy offerings so far and see that none of them are adequate. I've got ideas for improving them, but if I have to I'll compete with them. One such offering is: http://interoccupy.net/. I'm looking for others, and allies. Potential allies would be Move On, Netroots, and other groups. I'm not interested in helping Republicans but we'd be better off if they did the same thing. We need communities with two way communication, regression in sub-chaptering, standardized charters and the ability to share information broadly and accurate.

Spencer versus Locke & Henry George

What we find are many folks in our history who paid lip service to John Locke's thinking but actually tried to subvert it. I wrote about Burke's subversion of Locke in "Burke Versus John Locke" a while ago. But I have Henry George to thank for attacking Spencer's attack on the notion of property as an equal right.

Attacking Locke

Herbert Spencer like many Cons before and after him, subverts the basic conception of human rights in property by first doing a linguistic shift that appears to affirm that right and then using sleight of hand to subvert it. In "A Perplexed Philosopher" by Henry George, in "Part I, Chapter IV: Mr. Spencer's Confusion as to Right" in Property ownership:

"in Section 5, he proposes to Proudhon; for if, as in this chapter he asserts [the strawman that] no one can equitably become the exclusive possessor of any natural substance or product until the joint rights of all the rest of mankind have been made over to him by some species of quit-claim" [Chapter 4]

Henry George then notes that Spencer uses this strawman to advance a reductio ad absurdum argument that because such clear title, or complete "quit claim" is an absurdity that can never be achieved so he finishes:

..."—has no more claim to his own limbs than he has to the limbs of another—and has as good a right to his neighbor's body as to his own!" [Ch 4 continued]

Spencer, Henry Notes is advancing a "joint property claim" in chapter 5. But his real purpose is to sabotage Locke's concept. Locke (and Henry George) advanced that people have an equal right to property but Spencer is taking aim at that because as he notes:

"That there is a difference may be seen at once. For joint rights may be and often are unequal rights." [Ch 4 continued]

George explains the distinction between Joint Rights and Equal Rights as follows:

"When men have equal rights to a thing, as for instance, to the rooms and appurtenances of a club of which they are members, each has a right to use all or any part of the thing that no other one of them is using. It is only where there is use or some indication of use by one of the others that even politeness dictates such a phrase as "Allow me!" or "If you please!"[Ch 4 continued]

Then in Chapter IX, section 1 George quotes Spencer directly contradicting Locke trying to nullify equal rights using his absolutist "joint right" argument:

"No amount of labor, bestowed by an individual upon a part of the earth's surface, can nullify the title of society to that part"..."whether by labor ... made his right to the thing ...greater than the preexisting rights of all other men" [Ch 4 continued]

Thus shifting the standard of right from an equal right to one requiring a burden of proof that few people can prove:

"unless he can prove that he has done this his title to possession cannot be admitted...but [only] conceded ground of convenience." [Ch 4 continued]

Henry George then cuts into this argument:

"Here the primary right—the right by which "each of them is free to use the earth for the satisfaction of his wants "—has been dropped out of sight, and the mere proviso has been swelled into the importance of the primary right, and has taken its place." [Ch 4 continued]

Henry George notes that Spencer was actually attacking John Locke's ideas:

"And, from this [] shifting of ground, he is led, not only into hypercritical questioning of Locke's derivation of the right of property, but into the assumption that a man can have no right to the wild berries he has gathered on an untrodden prairie, unless he can prove the consent of all other men to his taking them."

Reckless, Feckless but on purpose, I would say. But Henry George was politer and doesn't have my hindsight. And Henry George was making a larger point too. He restates the essential point of Locke's Two Treatises in [George's] own words:

"Locke was not in error. The right of property in things produced by labor—and this is the only true right of property—springs directly from the right of the individual to himself, or as Locke expresses it, from his "property in his own person." It is as clear and has as fully the sanction of equity in any savage state as in the most elaborate civilization. Labor can, of course, produce nothing without land; but the right to the use of land is a primary individual right, not springing from society, or depending on the consent of society, either expressed or implied, but inhering in the individual, and resulting from his presence in the world. Men must have rights before they can have equal rights. Each man has a right to use the world because he is here and wants to use the world. The equality of this right is merely a limitation arising from the presence of others with like rights. Society, in other words, does not grant, and cannot equitably withhold from any individual, the right to the use of land. That right exists before society and independently of society, belonging at birth to each individual, and ceasing only with his death." [Ch 4 continued]

Henry George also explains the role of Governments in all this:

"Society itself has no original right to the use of land. What right it has with regard to the use of land is simply that which is derived from and is necessary to the determination of the rights of the individuals who compose it. That is to say, the function of society with regard to the use of land only begins where individual rights clash, and is to secure equality between these clashing right of individuals." [Ch 4 continued]

He concludes:

"Thus, instead of there being no right of property until society has so far developed that all land has been properly appraised and rented for terms of years, an absolute right of property in the things produced by labor exists from the beginning—is coeval with the existence of man."

For more suggest you read his series. I just wanted to note that Right Wing folks only quote John Locke in order to subvert his writings. Even now Libertarians take the above quotes about individual rights to assert similar arguments to Herbert Spencer.

Subject continued:

The Target of progressive taxation and LVT is unearned land rents/income [http://holtesthoughts.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-target-of-progressive-taxation-and.html]

Further reading

http://www.grundskyld.dk/23-Perplex-Ch4.html

Common Property and the Commons [http://holtesthoughts.blogspot.com/2014/12/common-property-and-commons.html]

Related Articles Locke (and some Henry George References"

Commonwealth according to Locke [http://holtesthoughts.blogspot.com/2014/09/commonwealth-according-to-locke.html]

Locke on the importance of the Collective [http://holtesthoughts.blogspot.com/2014/12/locke-talked-of-importance-of-collective.html]

Progressive Taxation principles and Picketty [http://holtesthoughts.blogspot.com/2014/05/progressive-taxation-principles-and.html]

Postal Banking, Stamp Scripts and fixing our economic system [http://holtesthoughts.blogspot.com/2015/02/postal-banking-stamp-scripts-and-fixing.html]

Importance of "Ordinary magistracy"

In Federalist 27 I find the term "Ordinary Magistry" employed at the end of his paper:

"The plan reported by the convention, by extending the authority of the federal head to the individual citizens of the several States, will enable the government to employ the ordinary magistracy of each, in the execution of its laws." [Federalist 27]

This goes back to the question raised in my earlier post of whether the Federalist system was ever envisioned to be two separate governments or not. Clearly Hamilton thought not. he saw a fundamental principle of Federalism as being collaboration and the use of "ordinary magistracy" ("ordinary courts" is the term I hear from English legal experts). I don't think that Hamilton at least envisioned two separate court systems but rather a unified court system. As realistic as he was I don't think he'd have been surprised by what has actually happened but I think that all the founders would be dismayed, because there are huge benefits to collaboration and a need for a unified government that outweigh any supposed benefits from competition and rivalry:

Collaborative Government

"It is easy to perceive that this will tend to destroy, in the common apprehension, all distinction between the sources from which they might proceed; and will give the federal government the same advantage for securing a due obedience to its authority which is enjoyed by the government of each State, in addition to the influence on public opinion which will result from the important consideration of its having power to call to its assistance and support the resources of the whole Union."[Federalist 27]

In the Federal vision that we see here, it seems Hamilton at least, hoped that Federal Judges would also be State Judges and that State Judges would be able to weigh in on Federal Law. In this vision, only the clearly Federal only courts such as the Supreme Court and Federal Appellate courts would have been in separate bodies and functionally the court system would have been an integrated whole. In principle the courts were to be collaborative.

Integrated Government

It merits particular attention in this place, that the laws of the Confederacy, as to the ENUMERATED and LEGITIMATE objects of its jurisdiction, will become the SUPREME LAW of the land; to the observance of which all officers, legislative, executive, and judicial, in each State, will be bound by the sanctity of an oath. Thus the legislatures, courts, and magistrates, of the respective members, will be incorporated into the operations of the national government AS FAR AS ITS JUST AND CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY EXTENDS; and will be rendered auxiliary to the enforcement of its laws."[Federalist 27]

Now we know from history that elements of his vision ended up being in contravention to the vision of the early Republicans (Democratic-Republicans but often just plain Republicans). But these arguments were about the scope of Federal Power not this concept.

That the courts have evolved the way they did, originally could be excused by the vast distances between localities and central locations, and conflicts between State Law and Federal Law that reflected different interpretations of what the "enumerated and legitimate" objects of each should be. I don't believe however, that Hamilton's vision was too idealistic or radical not to inform our own times. I think he saw "constitutional" as being about the organization needed for good government and never expected it would be so hard to amend the constitution to keep the government well constituted. With a well constituted government one can pretty much agree:

Any man who will pursue, by his own reflections, the consequences of this situation, will perceive that there is good ground to calculate upon a regular and peaceable execution of the laws of the Union, if its powers are administered with a common share of prudence. " [Federalist 27]

I believe that one of the constitutional issues of our own time. Not from the perspective of being "unconstitutional" in the sense of the parsed and political interpretation of our current SCOTUS, but poorly constituted in the sense of our myriads of courts and local governments each with overlapping, duplicated, conflictive, and sometimes arbitrary laws, sometimes perched to prey on travellers, and sometimes set to exploit the peccadilloes of their own ordinary citizens. I think we need to reconstitute our court system to reflect this original vision. And also to once again separate "Judge, jury and executioner" and restore the role of "ordinary courts", "ordinary process" and citizens in their appropriate Judicial roles. Our current system, where it is illegal in some states to marry, smoke pot, or vote, in some states and legal in others, is crazy as much due to drift from the vision described here as from any deliberate insanity. Judges are professional Jurors who know the law well enough that they should be able to act as jurors about it's constitutionality and appropriateness in concert with legislature, executive and ordinary people-jurors. That is where we should be setting up processes for better adjudicating issues.

In this post I'm wearing my student hat.