Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke Delivers Remarks on the Commission on the Social Status of Black Men and Boys and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Annual Legislative Conference

Remarks as Prepared for Delivery

Thank you, Congresswoman Wilson, for that kind introduction. Thank you to Reverend Sharpton, Derrick Johnson and to all of you for your commitment to civil rights. I am honored to be here.

Your subject for today is an important one. The “school to prison pipeline” channels far too many children from schools to courts, juvenile detention centers and, sometimes, to prisons. What we often refer to as a “pipeline,” is really a series of institutional failures.

We rely on our schools to nurture and protect our children. But, too often, schools single out some children – often Black children – for unequal punishment, including suspensions, expulsions and even in-school arrests. For instance, though Black students make up only 16% of enrollment in public schools, they account for nearly half of all students receiving multiple suspensions. In addition, Black students account for nearly one third of all school-related arrests and are suspended or expelled more than three times as often as white students — and students who are suspended or expelled are three times more likely to come in contact with the juvenile court system.

We know that some of those juvenile court systems fail to protect their constitutional rights. These children may then find themselves in juvenile detention facilities, too many of which subject those children to risks of violence and unspeakable mistreatment.

These failures only magnify the challenges already faced by these children, who are often the most vulnerable among us.

At the Civil Rights Division, we work to address institutional failures all along this pipeline. 

We work to ensure that school districts that administer discipline do not do so in a discriminatory manner. In recent years, we have lead investigations that have resulted in settlement agreements with school districts in California, Utah, Alabama and elsewhere. These agreements require systemic changes to disciplinary procedures, staff and teacher trainings, independent monitoring and other measures to ensure that student discipline is fair and reasonable.

In one investigation, we found that Black students were routinely disciplined more severely than white students. The school suspended Black students, or even charged them criminally for “disruptive behavior,” while white students involved in similar incidents would only need to attend a “conference.” Black students also reported that their teachers tolerated racial epithets and other harassment against them, to the point that many Black students thought that reporting racial abuse to adults would be pointless.

We also work to ensure juvenile court systems provide equal justice to the children who appear before them. This spring, the Department of Justice released a Dear Colleague Letter regarding the assessment of fines and fees by state and local courts, as well as by juvenile courts. The Letter makes clear that the constitutional principles regarding fines and fees apply to both adults and youth. In addition, the letter states that jurisdictions should presume that children and youth are indigent and unable to pay fines and fees. We applaud the many states and localities that have eliminated or significantly reduced the use of juvenile fines and fees.

In the Civil Rights Division, we also investigate juvenile court systems. Some of our recent settlements with court systems in Tennessee, Missouri and Mississippi have required that they increase the number of attorneys representing children, limit unnecessary detentions and other measures.

And, for youth who do end up in detention facilities, we know that they do not lose their constitutional rights at the door. The Civil Rights Division is focused on improving conditions within juvenile detention facilities. These facilities are not supposed to look like jails and prisons, but should help children transition back to school and to society. But far too often, these facilities have become hothouses of abuse and violence.

For example, at one long-term residential facility in South Carolina, we found that the that facility regularly subjected children to risks of violence from staff and from other children, and that the facility routinely used prolonged isolation as punishment, despite evidence that children are uniquely vulnerable to the trauma and lasting damage such isolation can cause. 

We entered into a settlement agreement with the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice to reform the facility. That agreement – which is enforceable in federal court – requires that the facility change its staffing policies, implement programs to reduce violence and significantly limit its use of force and isolation.  The agreement also appoints an independent monitor the facility and ensure compliance with the agreement.

The division has implemented similar agreements in Mississippi, Puerto Rico, California, Ohio and elsewhere. We are also currently leading a statewide investigation into juvenile detention facilities in Texas about whether the State provides children in its facilities adequate mental health care, protection from physical and sexual abuse and protection from excessive use of chemical restraints and isolation.

These investigations can be difficult. They are also time and resource intensive. But they are important.

We are determined to use all legal tools available to ensure that the school-prison nexus does sweep up more students.

But it should also be everyone’s goal to keep our children out of these facilities, to keep them out of the criminal legal system and to identify creative solutions for keeping children enrolled in nurturing, supportive and just school systems. That’s why the work you are doing here is so vitally important.

Thank you again for the invitation to speak with you.