The Punishment Gap: Racial/Ethnic Comparisons in School Infractions by Objective and Subjective Definitions

Girls Behaving Badly? Race, Gender, and Subjective Evaluation in the Discipline of African American Girls

“…First, the offenses incurred disproportionately by black girls—especially disobedience and disruptive behavior—are largely based on school officials’ interpretations of behavior. Similar to previous work (Downey and Pribesh 2004; Forsyth et al 2015), our findings suggest that educators evaluate the behavior of African American students critically. However, our results reveal an important intersection with gender, suggesting that African American girls’ behavior is perceived as misbehavior far more often compared to other girls.…”

“…Such schemas arise without a person’s conscious awareness—and even against one’s stated intentions or beliefs—especially in ambiguous or tense circumstances (Payne 2006). Forsyth and colleagues (2015) find that African American students are punished primarily for subjective infractions such as disobedience or defiance, suggesting that implicit bias might influence interpretations of student behavior. Similarly, Skiba and colleagues (2011) find that educators punish African American and Latino students more severely than whites for the same or similar behavior, indicating that educators interpret transgressions more critically when they are exhibited by children of color (for analogous research on teacher perceptions, see Downey and Pribesh 2004; McGrady and Reynolds 2013).…”

Understanding Disciplinary Disproportionality: Stereotypes Shape Pre-Service Teachers’ Beliefs About Black Boys’ Behavior

“…White students, however, were more likely to be disciplined for objective offenses such as using obscene language or smoking (Skiba et al, 2002). Finally, in a study of Louisiana students attending public schools, Forsyth, Biggar, Forsyth, and Howat (2015) found that Black students were disciplined at disproportionate rates for 28 of 32 specific offenses, including both subjective offenses such as treating an authority figure with disrespect and objective offenses such as tardiness. White students were only disproportionately disciplined for three objective offenses: possessing a pocket knife, using or possessing alcohol, and using or possessing tobacco.…”

Protective Factors for Deviance: A Comparison of Rural and Urban Youth

“…This identifies the transmission of behaviors between closely associated adolescents as the primary mechanism for influence, suggesting that a child's closest friends have the strongest influence on the child's behavior (Dishion, McCord, and Poulin 1999;Forsyth et al 2014;Forsyth et al 2015;Forsyth et al 2013;Payne and Cornwell 2007;Rocheleau and Chavez 2015;Schaefer et al 2015aSchaefer et al , 2015b.…”