The Criminalization of NYC Students: 12 Years of Data on Police in Schools

Introduction

Every New York student has the right to a safe, quality education. But far too often, students are kicked out of their classrooms, suspended, or even handcuffed and brought down to a police precinct. Students often face harsh punishment for minor misbehavior. This happens disproportionately to students of color, students with disabilities, and economically disadvantaged children. In 2022, for instance, nearly 90 percent of students arrested across New York City’s public schools were Black or Hispanic.

When schools use these types of traumatizing, aggressive disciplinary tactics to handle problems in the classroom, it doesn’t make anyone safer. It just puts more marginalized students in jail and sows distrust between students and adults.

Transparency is a crucial step to hold schools accountable for how they discipline students. That’s why the NYCLU has collected years of data on New York City’s overreliance on suspensions, arrests, and summonses of children in school.

We need schools that nurture students and help them learn from their mistakes so they can correct their misbehavior. This data helps underscore just how much schools instead rely on overly harsh punishments that keep students out of class and increase the chances they will drop out.

Annual Suspension Data:

Student Arrests and Summons Data

Annual Data:

School Year 2011-2012
School Year 2012-2013
School Year 2013-2014
School Year 2014-2015
Full Year 2016
Full Year 2017
School Year 2017-2018
Full Year 2019
School Year 2022-2023

Quarterly Data:

2011

2nd Quarter
3rd Quarter
4th Quarter

2012

1st Quarter
2nd Quarter
3rd Quarter
4th Quarter

2013

1st Quarter
2nd Quarter
3rd Quarter
4th Quarter

2014

1st Quarter
2nd Quarter
3rd Quarter
4th Quarter

2015

1st Quarter
2nd Quarter
3rd Quarter
4th Quarter

2016

1st Quarter
2nd Quarter

2017

1st Quarter
2nd Quarter

2018

1st Quarter
2nd Quarter
4th Quarter