Black girls arrested at 14 times the rate of white girls in school-related matters
An overview of Allegheny County Student Arrests, a new report from the ACLU
The ACLU reported in a recent study that Allegheny County public school-related arrest rates matched national trends, but Black students and students with disabilities had disproportionally higher arrests.
Nationally, Black students made up 15.1% of school enrollment but accounted for 31.6% of school-related student arrests. Black students with disabilities were 2.3% of school enrollment and were 9.1% of students who were arrested.
726 public school-related arrests of 658 students were processed in Allegheny County’s juvenile justice system during the 2018-2019 school year.
187 public school-related arrests were reported in Philadelphia County during that same year.
In the 2018-2019 Allegheny County public school year,
1 out of every 51 Black boys enrolled in schools was arrested, compared with 1 out of every 316 white boys.
1 out of every 69 Black girls enrolled in schools was arrested, compared with 1 out of every 894 white girls.
Black girls were arrested 14 times more than the rate of white girls in school-related matters.
Students with disabilities were arrested almost three times as much as students without.
“Black boys with a disability were arrested at 5.7 times the rate of white boys with a disability, while Black girls with a disability were arrested at 8.2 times the rate of white girls”
School Districts In Numbers:
8 out of the 10 school districts in Allegheny County with the largest gaps between the arrest rates of Black and white students had less than 10% Black student enrollment.
South Allegheny school district (Black student enrollment of 6.86%) arrest rates:
1 out of every 13 Black students
1 out of every 196 white students
Baldwin-Whitehall school district arrest rates:
1 out of every 18 Black students
1 out of every 288 white students
Moon Area school district arrest rates:
1 out of every 22 Black students
1 out of every 432 white students
West Jefferson Hills school district arrest rates:
1 out of every 24 Black students
1 out of every 554 white students
Read the whole study here.