The Consequences of School Suspension at Different Developmental Stages: The Relationships Between Age, Race, Suspension, and Justice-Related Outcomes

• Author: Abigail Novak
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00938548221107568
• Published date: 01 December 2022
• Date: 01 December 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR, 2022, Vol. 49, No. 12, December 2022, 1822 –1844.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00938548221107568

Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions

© 2022 International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology

1822

THE CONSEQUENCES OF SCHOOL SUSPENSION

AT DIFFERENT DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES

The Relationships Between Age, Race, Suspension,

and Justice-Related Outcomes

ABIGAIL NOVAK

The University of Mississippi

School suspension is associated with increases in delinquency and arrest and is disproportionality experienced by youth of

color. Limited research has examined the outcomes of suspension experienced at different developmental stages. The purpose

of this study was to examine the relationships between suspension, delinquency, and arrest, as well as if and how these rela-

tionships differed among youth first suspended in childhood and youth first suspended in adolescence and whether suspen-

sion experiences differed by race/ethnicity. Results indicated that suspension was more likely to be experienced by Black and

Hispanic youth. Results also indicated suspension in adolescence was associated with increases in delinquency, and suspen-

sion in childhood and suspension in adolescence were associated with increases in arrest. Suspension in adolescence was

associated with increases in delinquency, while suspension in childhood was associated with greater increases in arrest.

Results suggest policy makers and practitioners should consider alternatives to suspension to prevent delinquency and arrest.

Keywords: adolescence; delinquency; juvenile justice; life course; risk factors

Researchers and policymakers alike argue there is an overreliance on exclusionary dis-

cipline (i.e., school suspension and expulsion) in educational settings and that schools

should reduce their use of school suspension (Kupchik, 2016; Mowen et al., 2020).

Furthermore, researchers argue this overreliance does not affect all students equally, with

students of color being more likely to experience school suspension as compared with

White students (Kupchik, 2016; M. Morris, 2016). In an effort to reduce the number of

youth experiencing exclusion in their district(s) and reduce disproportionate exclusionary

experiences, some school districts and state-level departments of education have imple-

mented stringent policies banning out-of-school suspension as a disciplinary option for

children of a certain age (Juree Capers, 2018). As of 2021, 12 states and the District of

AUTHORS’ NOTE: The author would like to thank Drs. Abigail Fagan, Chris Gibson, Marv Krohn, and

Walter Leite for their helpful feedback. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Abigail

Novak, Department of Criminal Justice and Legal Studies, The University of Mississippi, 303 Hedleston Hall,

University, MS 38677; e-mail: anovak@olemiss.edu.

1107568CJBXXX10.1177/00938548221107568Criminal Justice and BehaviorNovak / The Consequences of School Suspension at Different

research-article2022

Novak / THE CONSEQUENCES OF SCHOOL SUSPENSION AT DIFFERENT 1823

Columbia have passed legislation eliminating out-of-school suspension as a disciplinary

consequence for elementary-aged children, and many districts nationwide have begun

enacting similar measures (End Zero Tolerance, 2021).

Although restricting the use of out-of-school suspension may help to improve outcomes

for youth and reduce racial disproportionality in suspension experiences, eliminating out-

of-school suspension as a disciplinary response for children assumes the consequences

associated with out-of-school suspension are more disproportionately negative for children

than adolescents. The criminological labeling and life-course perspectives suggest that out-

of-school suspension experienced at different developmental periods may have differing

consequences for youth development and outcomes, but research is limited in its examina-

tion of if and how the consequences associated with out-of-school suspension differ accord-

ing to whether an individual was first suspended in childhood or adolescence. As both

childhood (operationalized in this study as ages 12 and under) and adolescence (operation-

alized as ages 13–16) are important time periods in the development and/or prevention of

future delinquent and criminal behavior and outcomes (Sampson & Laub, 1993), and

because suspension is not experienced equally across racial/ethnic groups (Kupchik, 2016),

understanding the risk of suspension by racial/ethnic background and the potential differen-

tial impact suspension may have when experienced during these two critical periods is

important. The purpose of this study is to examine racial differences in experiences of sus-

pension across developmental periods and to examine the associations between out-of-

school suspension, self-reported delinquency, and justice system contact, as well as whether

and how these associations differ according to when suspension is first experienced.

LITERATURE REVIEW

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

The labeling and life-course perspectives both provide insight into the ways in which

school suspension may affect subsequent outcomes and the differences in these outcomes

according to age at first suspension. According to the labeling perspective, individuals who

experience a formal labeling event such as school suspension may be more likely to experi-

ence secondary deviance, or increases in deviant behavior, following the labeling event

(Liberman et al., 2014; Paternoster & Iovanni, 1989). The perspective argues individuals

may come to see themselves as deviant following a labeling event, and the internalization

of this deviant self-identity may lead to subsequent antisocial behavior. Labeling events are

also theorized to lead to secondary sanctioning, defined within the perspective as future

sanctioning on the part of agents of social control following an initial labeling event

(Liberman et al., 2014). The perspective argues secondary sanctioning effects reflect

changes in societal responses to an individual following a labeling event, rather than changes

in an individual’s behavior (Liberman et al., 2014; Matza, 1969). Sampson and Laub’s

(1993) age-graded theory of informal social control integrates and builds on the compo-

nents of the labeling perspective to suggest school suspension occurring in childhood may

have a larger negative effect on secondary deviance than that occurring in adolescence, as a

younger child’s bonds to schools and the prosocial institution of education are thought to be

protective against delinquency in adolescence. In addition, the theory suggests suspension

in childhood may be more likely to lead to secondary sanctioning, as agents of social con-

trol may develop and maintain perceptions of deviance as the child ages, subjecting the