Students who were suspended from school between ages 12 and 18 are significantly more likely to report that they committed later offenses, such as assault, carrying a gun, selling drugs or theft. And students who experience multiple suspensions report higher levels of delinquency, according to study released Friday.
Appearing in the journal Justice Quarterly, the findings — based on a sample of 6,876 students participating in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 — suggest “school discipline can serve as a negative and harmful turning point in adolescence that increases offending … over time,” the authors write.