Criminal justice system contact of students with disabilities by race and ethnicity: Examining the role of school police

Schools are a common site of criminal justice system contact for students with disabilities (SWD), especially Black and multiracial SWD. The presence of police in schools may increase the frequency with which SWD are arrested or otherwise referred to law enforcement. This study examines the relationship between police in schools and (a) arrests and (b) referrals to law enforcement of SWD, including differences across racial/ethnic groups of SWD. It uses a difference-in-differences design drawing on two waves of data from the Civil Rights Data Collection (N = 88,479 schools). A series of two-way fixed effects models estimates the impact of either adding or removing police on the rates of arrest and referral to law enforcement of SWD. Results were mixed, with het-erogeneity across both treatment-comparison conditions and racial/ethnic groups of SWD. The findings are interpreted through a lens of equity in how schools address student behavior.