Arrest Demographics

the story behind the indicator

Racial and ethnic disproportionality in arrests is just one example of disproportionality in our community. For example, the report Breaking Schools' Rules: A Statewide Study on How School Discipline Relates to Students' Success and Juvenile Justice Involvement, found that, across the State of Texas, African American students were suspended or expelled from school at exceptionally high rates. The report found a high correlation between these school referrals and later Juvenile Justice System involvement. Child Protective Services is grappling with high removal rates of African American children from their homes. There are systemic factors tied to disproportionate impacts and a cross-cutting approach across systems is required to create equity and fairness. To learn more about the story behind disproportionality in our community, click here.

some local efforts to improve this indicator

• The Travis County District Attorney's Office, Austin ISD, and Travis County Juvenile Probation have convened a work group to examine local data and to review best practices for impacting some of the findings in the Breaking Schools' Rules report.
• The Center for Elimination of Disproportionality and Disparities, under the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, was created in 2011 to address disproportionality found in many state social service systems.
• Local law enforcement entities have implemented multiple outreach strategies to work with minority youth in the community including utilizing school resource officers, Police Activity Leagues, Police Explorer programs, and prevention activities associated with the Joint Juvenile Gang Unit (Austin Police Department, Travis County Sheriff's Office and AISD).
• The Texas Center for Elimination of Disproportionality and Disparities, under the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, was created in 2011 as a result of Senate Bill 501. The Center is using a comprehensive approach that cuts across systems to reduce disparate outcomes for vulnerable populations.
• Hays CISD, Leander ISD, Pflugerville ISD, San Marcos CISD, and Round Rock ISD have implemented Positive Behavior Supports to help reduce disproportionate school discipline referrals. Austin ISD is using a similar approach that blends aspects of Positive Behavior Supports with Response to Intervention, a framework that pairs high quality instruction with interventions matched to students' educational needs.
• The Austin Independent School District (AISD) has begun a process to examine the 500+ yearly discretionary removals of students from classrooms for offenses that are considered to be non-dangerous. The Superintendent of has directed that, beginning next school year, there will be no discretionary removals except in cases where a student may be a danger to self or others. The district is considering new approaches that may be taken as a student's removal from the classroom may increase their chance of dropping out of school. Austin ISD has also issued a request for proposals (RFP) for a private vendor or charter school to potentially take on the management of AISD's alternative learning center (ALC) in hopes that in the future the ALC may be improved. The RFP will be awarded by next school year.

• connect • convene • inform
  © CAN
  Austin, Texas
• 
• Vanessa Sarria
  Executive Director
• Mary Dodd
  Assistant Director
• Chantel Bottoms
  Senior Research Analyst