Zero tolerance = jailhouse hotel?A 10-year old Philadelphia girl is taken to the police station in handcuffs hand·cuff n. A restraining device consisting of a pair of strong, connected hoops that can be tightened and locked about the wrists and used on one or both arms of a prisoner in custody; a manacle. Often used in the plural. tr.v. for taking a pair of scissors scissors Cutting instrument or tool consisting of a pair of opposed metal blades that meet and cut when the handles at their ends are brought together. Modern scissors are of two types: the more usual pivoted blades have a rivet or screw connection between the cutting ends to school for a project. A 12-year-old Houston boy is taken to a juvenile detention center A detention center or a detention centre is any location used for detention. Specifically, it can mean:
The students were disciplined under their schools' zero tolerance policy zero tolerance policy Substance abuse A stance taken by US government, that any type of drug abuse is punishable by incarceration. See Correctional facility, War on Drugs. and some advocates are saying these codes of conduct have become so strict that schools are turning into criminal justice systems, or worse, jailhouses. In a new report, Education on Lockdown Lockdown A specified period when an employee of a public company is barred from selling - and occasionally buying - their company's stock. Notes: These types of equity transaction restrictions can be imposed by securities regulators or underwriting firms if a company has : The Schoolhouse to Jailhouse Track, the Advancement Project, a national racial justice advocacy group, says zero tolerance The policy of applying laws or penalties to even minor infringements of a code in order to reinforce its overall importance and enhance deterrence. Since the 1980s the phrase zero tolerance has signified a philosophy toward illegal conduct that favors strict imposition of discipline polices force school districts to team up with law enforcement officials. Many students who didn't mean to hurt anyone are getting suspended and expelled. "Acts once handled by a principal or a parent are now being handled by prosecutors and the police," says Judith Browne, acting co-director of the Advancement Project. The report also found minorities to often be disproportionately impacted by the policies. But some states are trying to adjust the zero tolerance policies. Texas legislators are considering several bills that would add more flexibility to the strict discipline codes. Billy Jacobs, senior director for safe schools for the Texas Education Agency and former juvenile probation officer, says he'd like to see schools ax the policies completely. "I think we've lost our common sense," says Jacobs. "Children are children and they will have natural defiance and are we setting rules that are stricter than we have for adults?" Zero tolerance policies began to take hold nationally in 1994 with the passage of the federal Gun Free School Act. That act required schools to pass laws mandating the expulsion of any student who brought a firearm to school. Many school districts expanded the mandate to include other disciplinary issues they didn't want to tolerate, such as attacks on teachers or drugs. Bill Modzeleski, associate assistant deputy secretary for safe and drug free schools, says while the federal gun act allowed some discretion by giving school officials a chance to review mitigating circumstances Circumstances that may be considered by a court in determining culpability of a defendant or the extent of damages to be awarded to a plaintiff. Mitigating circumstances do not justify or excuse an offense but may reduce the severity of a charge. before expelling a student, the expanded local policies often do not. "Part of this has little to do with the law and more to do with leadership at the local level about what is appropriate," says Modzeleski. Bob Schwartz, executive director of the Juvenile Law An area of the law that deals with the actions and well-being of persons who are not yet adults. In the law a juvenile is defined as a person who is not old enough to be held responsible for criminal acts. Center in Philadelphia, says school administrators who don't want to appear too lenient or biased often rely on zero tolerance policies. Serious crime on school campuses, including aggravated assaults, has dropped from 245,400 incidents in 1992 to 88,100 in 2002, according to federal statistics. KEEPING LAPTOPS FROM THIEVES Four school districts have bought IBM's new ThinkPad computers because they have special tracking capabilities in case of theft. Flint (Mich.) Community School District, Newtown (Mass.) County Day School and DeSoto Independent School District DeSoto Independent School District is a school district based in DeSoto, Texas (USA). The district covers most of DeSoto and the Dallas County portions of Glenn Heights and Ovilla. and Episcopal High School Episcopal High School is a common name for high schools affiliated with the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, including:
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