Common Sense vs. Zero Tolerance

After several notorious school shootings during the 1990s, most public schools adopted what are called zero tolerance policies. Now, some state legislators are realizing that these policies often went to ridiculous extremes and they need a large dose of common sense. Several states are reconsidering the “zero-tolerance” policies.

In Florida, students have been arrested for bringing a plastic butter knife to school, throwing an eraser, and drawing a picture of a gun. The eleven-year-old who allegedly brought a plastic butter knife to school was handcuffed, taken to jail, and charged with a third-degree felony. Legislation recently passed unanimously by the Florida Senate could change all that by prohibiting schools from calling the police for nonviolent misdemeanors.

Texas, Rhode Island, and Utah have also attempted to improve their zero-tolerance laws in the past few years. Texas recently passed a bill allowing school officials to consider “mitigating factors” before they punish students under zero-tolerance policies. Rhode Island passed a bill allowing discretion to school officials in deciding how to punish student who bring weapons to school. Utah made an exception to its zero-tolerance policy on drugs to allow asthmatic students to bring their inhalers with them to school.

Listen to my commentary on this topic.