Academic Success of High School Youth in the Juvenile Legal System: Examining the Impact of School Transitions

High school students who are adjudicated in juvenile courts transition from their schools to the juvenile legal system and back to their local schools. The experience of transitioning between multiple school settings may make it difficult for students to meet high school graduation requirements. The purpose of this study was to examine how high school students in the State of Maryland who are involved in the juvenile legal system experience transitions between public schools and juvenile facilities and how these experiences impacted school completion. Theories on trauma informed practice (Harris & Fallot, 2001), restorative justice (Zehr, 2014), and systems thinking (Senge, 2006) provided the theoretical framework for this study. I used a generic qualitative methodology, rooted within the social constructionism paradigm, to focus on the experiences of youth and the impact of transitions between schools and juvenile facilities on their high school completion. Data collection included in-depth interviews with eight individuals who were previously involved in Maryland’s juvenile legal system. Data analysis resulted in the emergence of three themes: (a) trauma was pervasive, (b) home, school and community presented stress, and (c) school completion was difficult. This study affirms the need for school districts and the juvenile legal system to support youth with trauma-informed practices and restorative justice practices. By working together and taking a systems approach, learning gaps created by the interruption of education during multiple school transitions can be eradicated, enabling school completion. Absent systemic changes in local school districts, juvenile detention centers, and the juvenile legal system, these youth will continue to suffer the negative academic effects of being detained. Successful integration back into the public school system after court adjudication is critical for high school students to be academically successful. This study contributes to the literature on the experiences of youth in the juvenile legal system and provides insight into systemic changes that can be made to public schools and the juvenile legal system to counter the school-to-prison pipeline