Arrest Decision Making by School Resource Officers
Kerrin C. Wolf, Arrest Decision Making by School Resource Officers, Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 2013, Forthcoming
16 Pages Posted: 9 Mar 2013 Last revised: 21 Sep 2013
Date Written: March 1, 2013
Abstract
Over the past two decades, school resource officers (SROs) have become an increasingly common fixture on the American educational landscape. Despite their prominence in schools, significant investigation into their arrest-making behavior has not occurred. This paper uses responses to a statewide survey of SROs in Delaware to explore SRO arrest decision making. Guided by Black’s general theory of arrest, it analyzes the effect of the school context on SROs’ arrest decisions. The SROs’ survey responses indicate that the factors highlighted by Black as influential to arrest decisions remain prominent in SRO arrest decision making, but the school context influences their arrest decisions in a variety of critical ways.
Keywords: arrest decision making, school resource officers, school discipline, juvenile justice
JEL Classification: K10, K14
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation