The Importance Of Legislative Mandates In The Implementation Of Restorative Practices

This dissertation research answered the following question:Is there a significant correlation between legal mandates to implement restorative practices and a reduction in suspensions in states with legal mandates compared to states without legal mandates? To answer this question, I used data available from the Civil Right DataCollection and The School Survey on Crime and Safety. A quantitative approach was taken to evaluate data using a repeated measures model in the CDC data and a crosstabulation for the SSOCS data. The findings indicate that states with mandated restorative practices have a higher reported use of restorative practices than states without a mandate. Additionally, the findings show that in states with a restorative practices mandate, suspensions decreased at a greater rate than in states without the mandate. Finally, the research showed that states with restorative practices mandates had higher rates of suspensions before the legal mandates were adopted than states that do not have a restorative practices mandate.