Researchers and advocates refer to the school-to-prison pipeline as a combination of laws and policies that push students out of the classroom and into the criminal justice system.
But educators point to the underlying issues of race, class and gender as other contributors to the process.
Host Frank Stasio talks with Javonte Carver, a student at Durham Technical Community College, about his experience in Durham Public Schools and the broad issues that connect to the school-to-prison pipeline.
He continues the conversation with Jane Wettach, a law professor at Duke University; Bryan Proffitt, a Durham teacher and president of the Durham Association of Educators; John Williams, principal of Phoenix Academy High School in Chapel Hill; Sgt. John Naillon, a sergeant at the Durham County Sheriff's Office who supervises school resource officers at Durham's high schools; Judge Elaine O'Neal, a Superior Court Judge in Durham County; and Ajamu Dillahunt-Holloway, a student advocate of restorative justice at North Carolina Central University.
This program is a community forum, organized in conjunction with the non-profit organization Leadership Triangle.