U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

Democrats have shut down the government. Department of Justice websites are not currently regularly updated. Please refer to the Department of Justice’s contingency plan for more information.

Long-Term Arrest and School Outcomes of the Philadelphia Police School Diversion Program

NCJ Number
307916
Journal
Psychology, Public Policy, and Law Volume: Online Dated: 2023
Date Published
2023
Annotation

This study compared long-term recidivism arrest and school outcomes among students diverted through the Philadelphia Police School Diversion Program and comparable students arrested in Philadelphia schools.

Abstract

This study compared long-term recidivism arrest and school outcomes (i.e., out-of-school suspension, dropout, and on-time graduation) among students diverted through the Philadelphia Police School Diversion Program (n = 427) and comparable students arrested in Philadelphia schools (n = 531). Findings indicate small yet significant long-term program effects on public safety and potential time-limited effects on exclusionary discipline. In response to school-based arrests representing a growing proportion of youth arrests nationwide, several programs have emerged to divert youth from school-based arrests. However, few such initiatives have undergone empirical evaluation, and none have been evaluated with a focus on long-term (i.e., 4- to 5-year) youth outcomes. This study attempts to address this gap. Mixed-effects logistic regression results revealed that diverted youth were significantly less likely than matched arrested youth to experience a recidivism arrest within 5 years of their initial school-based incident. However, the researchers did not observe significant between-group differences for school-related outcomes once relevant covariates were considered. (Published Abstract Provided)

Date Published: January 1, 2023