Attorney General Eric Holder said the guidelines were aimed at giving direction to school law enforcement officers, protecting the civil rights of students, and disrupting what he called "the school-to-prison pipeline."
"Effective discipline is, and always will be, a necessity. But a routine school discipline infraction should land a student in a principal's office - not in a police precinct," Holder, joined by Education Secretary Arne Duncan, said after meeting students at Baltimore's Frederick Douglass High School.He said many students were suspended, expelled or arrested for minor lapses such as school uniform violations, schoolyard fights or laughing in class. Black students and those with disabilities often received different and more severe punishment than others, Holder said.
The guidelines came after the Justice Department sued Mississippi state and local officials in 2012, saying they violated the rights of children, especially black and disabled youths.