Carla Shedd (Columbia University), author of the RSF book Unequal City: Race, Schools, and Perceptions of Injustice, will speak on September 21 at two congressional briefings to examine the role of police in schools. The briefings—to be held for both the Senate and the House of Representatives—will include personal stories from students and parents about interactions with school police, research and data on the role of police in schools, examples of best practices for creating positive school climates, and presentations of policy recommendations.

Shedd has regularly appeared in the news as a leading expert on inequality and policing in schools. Her book Unequal City explores in detail how marginalized youth navigate their interactions with law enforcement in and around their schools. Shedd draws from an array of data and in-depth interviews with Chicago youth to offer new insight into how schools either reinforce or ameliorate the social inequalities that shape the worlds of these adolescents. She tracks the rise of metal detectors, surveillance cameras, and pat-downs at schools populated primarily by low-income African American students and finds that along with police procedures like stop-and-frisk, these prison-like practices lead to distrust of authority and feelings of powerlessness among the adolescents who experience mistreatment either firsthand or vicariously.

Read more about Unequal City or purchase a copy of the book.