IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp17700.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

From Retributive to Restorative: An Alternative Approach to Justice in Schools

Author

Listed:
  • Adukia, Anjali

    (University of Chicago)

  • Feigenberg, Benjamin

    (University of Illinois at Chicago)

  • Momeni, Fatemeh

    (University of Chicago)

Abstract

School districts historically approached conflict-resolution from the perspective that suspending disruptive students was necessary to protect their classmates, even if this caused harm to perceived offenders. Restorative practices (RP) – focused on reparation, accountability, and shared ownership of disciplinary justice – are designed to address undesirable behavior without harming students. We study Chicago Public Schools' adoption of RP and find that suspensions and arrests decreased, driven by effects for Black students. We find null effects on test-score value added, ruling out meaningful average declines. We estimate a 15% decrease in out-of-school arrests, consistent with RP substantively changing student behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Adukia, Anjali & Feigenberg, Benjamin & Momeni, Fatemeh, 2025. "From Retributive to Restorative: An Alternative Approach to Justice in Schools," IZA Discussion Papers 17700, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17700
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp17700.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Evan K. Rose & Jonathan T. Schellenberg & Yotam Shem-Tov, 2022. "The Effects of Teacher Quality on Adult Criminal Justice Contact," NBER Working Papers 30274, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. C. Kirabo Jackson, 2018. "What Do Test Scores Miss? The Importance of Teacher Effects on Non–Test Score Outcomes," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 126(5), pages 2072-2107.
    3. Yotam Shem‐Tov & Steven Raphael & Alissa Skog, 2024. "Can Restorative Justice Conferencing Reduce Recidivism? Evidence From the Make‐it‐Right Program," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 92(1), pages 61-78, January.
    4. Dania Francis, 2012. "Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice? Teacher Perceptions of Black Girls in the Classroom," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 39(3), pages 311-320, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Busso, Matias & Montaño, Sebastián & Muñoz-Morales, Juan & Pope, Nolan G., 2024. "The unintended consequences of merit-based teacher selection: Evidence from a large-scale reform in Colombia," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    2. Victor Lavy & Rigissa Megalokonomou, 2024. "Alternative Measures of Teachers’ Value Added and Impact on Short and Long-Term Outcomes: Evidence from Random Assignment," CESifo Working Paper Series 11216, CESifo.
    3. Matthew A. Kraft & John P. Papay & Olivia L. Chi, 2020. "Teacher Skill Development: Evidence from Performance Ratings by Principals," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(2), pages 315-347, March.
    4. Thomas S. Dee & Emily K. Penner, 2021. "My Brother's Keeper? The Impact of Targeted Educational Supports," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(4), pages 1171-1196, September.
    5. Zenou, Yves & Boucher, Vincent & Tumen, Semih & Vlassopoulos, Michael & Wahba, Jackline, 2020. "Ethnic Mixing in Early Childhood: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment and a Structural Model," CEPR Discussion Papers 15528, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Marco Bertoni & Gabriel Heller-Sahlgren & Olmo Silva, 2023. "Free to improve? The impact of free school attendance in England," CEP Discussion Papers dp1946, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    7. Masaya NISHIHATA & Hidenori TAHARA & Yohei KOBAYASHI, 2023. "Does Sending Teachers Abroad Enhance Their Quality and Ability?," Discussion papers 23055, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    8. Ludovica Gazze & Claudia Persico & Sandra Spirovska, 2024. "The Long-Run Spillover Effects of Pollution: How Exposure to Lead Affects Everyone in the Classroom," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 42(2), pages 357-394.
    9. Ajzenman, Nicolás & Elacqua, Gregory & Marotta, Luana & Westh Olsen, Anne Sofie, 2021. "Order Effects and Employment Decisions: Experimental Evidence from a Nationwide Program," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 11541, Inter-American Development Bank.
    10. Bianchi, Nicola & Lu, Yi & Song, Hong, 2022. "The effect of computer-assisted learning on students’ long-term development," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    11. Bohdana Kurylo, 2021. "The Impact of Same-Race Teachers on Student Behavioral Outcomes," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp695, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    12. Melissa Clark & Jeffrey Max & Susanne James-Burdumy & Silvia Robles & Moira McCullough & Paul Burkander & Steven Malick, "undated". "Study of Teacher Coaching Based on Classroom Videos: Impacts on Student Achievement and Teachers’ Practices," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 5b522b849ff54506a7fdd69a9, Mathematica Policy Research.
    13. Simon Briole & Marc Gurgand & Eric Maurin & Sandra McNally & Jenifer Ruiz-Valenzuela & Daniel Santin, 2022. "The making of civic virtues: a school-based experiment in three countries," CEP Discussion Papers dp1830, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    14. Diether W Beuermann & C Kirabo Jackson & Laia Navarro-Sola & Francisco Pardo, 2023. "What is a Good School, and Can Parents Tell? Evidence on the Multidimensionality of School Output," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 90(1), pages 65-101.
    15. Michael D. Bates & Michael Dinerstein & Andrew C. Johnston & Isaac Sorkin, 2022. "Teacher Labor Market Policy and the Theory of the Second Best," NBER Working Papers 29728, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Annalisa Loviglio, 2023. "School Quality Beyond Test Scores: the Role of Schools in Shaping Educational Outcomes," Working Papers wp1184, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    17. Matteo Bobba & Tim Ederer & Gianmarco León-Ciliotta & Christopher A. Neilson & Marco Nieddu, 2021. "Teacher compensation and structural inequality: Evidence from centralized teacher school choice in Perú," Economics Working Papers 1788, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    18. Christopher Walters, 2024. "Empirical Bayes Methods in Labor Economics," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 2422, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
    19. Christopher Belfield & Imran Rasul, 2020. "Cognitive and Non‐Cognitive Impacts of High‐Ability Peers in Early Years," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(1), pages 65-100, March.
    20. Tim Kautz & Quinn Moore, "undated". "Measuring Self-Regulation Skills in Evaluations of Employment Programs for Low-Income Populations: Challenges and Recommendations," Mathematica Policy Research Reports c3079bb25ca349b6806692391, Mathematica Policy Research.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    restorative practices; school discipline; human capital; restorative justice; behavior; classroom management;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17700. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.