Breaking the School-to-Prison Pipeline Through Restorative Practices
This is a guest blog by Faye Sellers, a volunteer for Why me? who is currently studying a Masters degree in Criminology at the University of Bath.
The school-to-prison pipeline refers to the systemic process where marginalized students are pushed out of mainstream education and into the criminal justice system. This occurs due to exclusionary discipline policies, lack of emotional support, and exposure to violence. Why me?’s project on the use of RJ in Pupil Referral Units conducted research into the extent to which violence is an issue in Alternative Provision (AP). Working alongside Belinda Hopkins, the Executive Director at Transforming Conflict, the 2024 report, The Role of Relational and Restorative Practice in Alternative Provision: Reducing Violence and Overcoming Barriers to Learning, provides compelling evidence that relational and restorative practices in AP help prevent exclusions, reduce violence, and create safer learning environments, thus reducing the potential risk of criminal activity.
By reducing school exclusions, the risk of criminal involvement is decreased by the mere fact that young people are in attendance at educational establishments, therefore lowering their risk of entering the youth justice system through lack of basic regular supervision. Many AP settings successfully prevent exclusions through relationship-based approaches due to the extensive staff training where they focus on restorative resolutions, such as de-escalation, trust-building, and restorative dialogue; all of which do the vital job of keeping students engaged.
Moreover, many AP students have experienced trauma, abuse, or gang violence. With these restorative approaches, staff can help students process trauma, build empathy, and develop conflict-resolution skills, giving them the emotional regulation they need, helping prevent violence, and resulting in fewer arrests and incarceration risks.
Encouraging this positive staff-student relationship can only prevent disengagement and criminalization. AP settings that prioritize relational learning create safer spaces, reducing the likelihood of students joining gangs or engaging in crime. Fostering trust, emotional safety, and resilience ensures students feel valued and supported.
With the traditional zero-tolerance policies disproportionately affecting disadvantaged students, many young people feel the need to seek validation through crime. AP settings that adopt restorative practices actively counteract systemic disadvantages such as poverty, racism, and lack of mental health support, so by breaking these systemic cycles we can reduce incarceration rates among marginalized youth.
With the UK prison system in England and Wales facing significant challenges, including overcrowding, rising prison populations, and potential capacity issues, with a projected increase in the prison population, policymakers, educators, and communities must prioritize the young and the disadvantaged through relational learning and restorative justice by fostering trust, resilience, and constructive discipline to keep students in classrooms, and not in courtrooms.