Here's another article on the DOJ Civil Rights Division case unfolding in Mississippi. I've added some links below the excerpt:
In Meridian, Miss., it is school officials – not police – who determine who should be arrested. Schools seeking to discipline students call the police, and police policy is to arrest all children referred to the agency, according to a Department of Justice lawsuit. The result is a perverse system that funnels children as young as ten who merely misbehave in class into juvenile detention centers without basic constitutional procedures. The lawsuit, which follows unsuccessful attempts to negotiate with the county, challenges the constitutionality of punishing children “so arbitrarily and severely as to shock the conscience” and alleging that the city’s police department acts as a de facto “taxi service” in shuttling students from school to juvenile detention centers.
Read more at www.nationofchange.org
Related Links and Info:
DOJ's Meridian Complaint filed 10/24/12 (1.2MB)
The Special Litigation Section of the DOJ is one of several Sections in the Civil Rights Division. They work to protect civil rights in these situations:
1) rights of people in state or local institutions, including: jails, prisons, juvenile detention facilities, and health care facilities for persons with disabilities;
2) the rights individuals with disabilities to receive services in their communities, rather than in institutions;
3) the rights of people who interact with state or local police or sheriffs' departments;
4) the rights of youth involved in the juvenile justice system;
5) the rights of people to have safe access to reproductive health care clinics; and
6) the rights of people to practice their religion while confined to state and local institutions. We can also act on behalf of people at risk of harm in these areas.
Are Zero Tolerance Policies Effective in the Schools? (American Psychological Association task force report; pdf - 96kb)
