Bar Assn. Asks End to Zero Tolerance

The American Bar Assn. on Monday approved by a resounding margin a resolution opposing zero-tolerance policies in schools.

School districts across the country have adopted the policies, with mandatory expulsions or suspensions for alcohol, drug and weapons offenses by students.

Michael Johnson, chairman of the bar association’s criminal justice section, said he hopes the resolution, passed during the midyear conference in San Diego, will spur Congress to enact legislation encouraging local school boards to do away with the controversial policies. In recent years, some districts have softened the policies after officials concluded that the punishments were too harsh for relatively minor infractions, or mistaken ones. In many districts, however, they remain in effect.

The ABA says such policies violate students’ due process rights by requiring automatic punishment regardless of circumstances, said Johnson, a prosecutor in Merrimack County, N.H.

“This resolution relieves us of the burden of being stupid,” Johnson told the approximately 500 delegates who make policy for the bar association. “Our system of justice is one that honors . . . the individual, whether as an adult or a child.”

Noting that the policies are popular in some communities where parents and the public fear for the safety of children in school, Johnson said that “the demands of society to be safe can be satisfied by making our system more responsive, not less human.”

The resolution, approved in a 337-28 vote, urges schools to maintain strong policies against gun possession but ensure that students’ rights are protected when they are being disciplined.

The bar association took up the issue after a number of cases received publicity, including a 13-year-old from Denton County, Texas, who was assigned to write a scary Halloween story and spent six days in jail for writing about shooting up a school.

The resolution says that zero-tolerance policies are increasingly unnecessary, since crime has been declining on public school campuses since 1990. Robert Schwartz, executive director of the Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia, also noted that though they are supposed to punish all students equally, zero-tolerance policies have disproportionately affected black and Latino students.

“Does the ABA carry any weight? I don’t know,” Johnson said. “But standing by while injustice is being done is not responsible.”

The bar association is the largest professional membership organization in the world, with more than 400,000 members. In addition to accrediting law schools, it formulates initiatives “to improve the legal system for the public.”

Other ABA policies passed Monday include:

* Supporting a review of the nature and cause of the voting problems in the 2000 presidential election.

* Opposing the use of secret evidence in immigration proceedings.

* Calling for unaccompanied immigrant children to have lawyers appointed for them at government expense during all stages of immigration proceedings.

* Recommending that the U.S. government recognize a permanent international criminal court to try individuals for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.