Researchers at George Mason University have begun work on a four-year, $3.8 million study to improve public school safety in a Seattle neighborhood.
When completed in 2020, research from George Mason’s Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy will provide school administrators and juvenile justice officials in Rainier Beach with a multilevel approach to improving school and community safety and reducing racial disparity.
The study will also address school discipline and police contact in an effort to increase nonpunitive measures among students.
“This is a community-led project,” said Charlotte Gill, the center’s deputy director and assistant professor in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society. “It’s a partnership between the schools and the community. It’s incentivizing good behavior and offering support for those who are struggling. We think this will carry over into the community.”
The study addresses positive behavioral change as an alternative to increased police presence on public school campuses, which sometimes creates a so-called “school-to-prison pipeline” in which students may be referred to law enforcement for behavior that might have been dealt with less punitively.
“We’ll try to achieve the same result of having police in school but by changing the way the school operates,” Gill said.
The funding is from the National Institute of Justice.
“This was a highly competitive award, and we’re very excited to have it,” said Gill.