Dear Editor:
A 4/25/2018 NT article (Study:Imbalance growing on police referrals of black pupils) appears to be yet another discussion that refuses to recognize that the family and/or neighborhood environment has a great deal to do with school disciplinary issues. The main reason for the disparity in "police referrals" may well be the disparity in actions requiring disciplinary actions.
A January 2014 article in the American Free Press noted, "A 2012 study by the Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention revealed that in 2010 black youths committed six times more murders, three times more rapes, 10 times more robberies and three times more assaults than did their white counterparts. Similar statistics were released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the Uniform Crime Reports. They determined, "In the year 2008, black youths, who make up 16 percent of the youth population, accounted for 52 percent of juvenile violent crime arrests, including 58 percent for homicide and 67 percent for robbery."
Hopefully the proposed study will provide data based not only on race, but also on household income, household type, etc., of those committing the infractions.
Perhaps if the study focused more on why there is such a disparity in infractions/crimes committed, progress could be made. It seems reasonable that there is a link between single parent households, poverty & crime. Are we reaping the "rewards" of 50 years of increasing incentives for single family households?