Black children in Florida face harsher school discipline, new 人兽性交 report shows
Five years ago last month, people across the country were shocked by a showing the arrest of Kaia Rolle in her Orlando, Florida, school.
She was just 6 years old, not even 4 feet tall and weighing about 50 pounds. Her wrists 鈥� too small for metal handcuffs 鈥� had been zip-tied behind her back by a police officer who arrested her for misdemeanor battery. He walked her to a police car, lifted her into the back seat, and drove her to a nearby juvenile assessment center (JAC).
The video captured Kaia sobbing and pleading: 鈥淗elp me. Don鈥檛 put handcuffs on me. Please let me go. I don鈥檛 want to go into the police car. Please give me a second chance.鈥� At the JAC, she was fingerprinted standing on a table and detained 鈥� without her custodial grandmother鈥檚 knowledge.
Kaia had thrown a tantrum earlier that morning after a teacher confiscated her sunglasses. The severity of the tantrum, however, was caused by a physiological sleep condition that school administrators and teachers already knew about. By the time the officer arrived, Kaia was sitting calmly on the floor with a coloring book. Still, he arrested her 鈥渨ithout probable cause that a crime had been committed,鈥� according to a lawsuit filed on Kaia鈥檚 behalf. The officer can be heard on the video telling Kaia he arrested her because she 鈥渄idn鈥檛 listen to him.鈥�
Later the same day, the same officer arrested an 8-year-old student at the same school, also for misdemeanor battery 鈥� also a Black child like Kaia and also without probable cause.
Kaia was possibly the youngest child ever arrested in Florida, and her story is included in a new Southern Poverty Law Center report that documents the state鈥檚 harshly punitive approach to school discipline and the consequences faced by many children 鈥� disproportionately Black 鈥� who commit what often amounts to little more than childish misbehavior.
The report 鈥� Only Young Once: The Systemic Harm of Florida鈥檚 School-to-Prison Pipeline and Youth Legal System 鈥� is part of a series examining the criminalization of children in each of the 人兽性交鈥檚 five focus states. Together, the reports paint a grim picture of youth criminalization in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and now Florida. A report on Georgia will be published this winter.
鈥淏lack kids are more likely to be expelled from school, arrested and incarcerated,鈥� said Delvin Davis, the report鈥檚 author and the 人兽性交鈥檚 senior decarceration and criminal policy analyst. 鈥淏ut what鈥檚 novel about Florida is that we have a minimum age of prosecution lower than any state that has a minimum age. A 7-year-old can be put in handcuffs and taken to a police precinct to be fingerprinted and stand for a mug shot.鈥�
鈥榁astly disproportionate鈥�
The new report shows the discrepancy between Gov. Ron DeSantis鈥� youth justice policies and his frequent claims that his administration 鈥渃hampions children鈥� and 鈥減uts kids first.鈥�
The state鈥檚 prolific use of school resource officers (SROs) 鈥� law enforcement employed directly on school campuses 鈥� has led to increased criminalization of children, the report says, despite the state鈥檚 contention that SROs keep schools safe. In fact, SROs 鈥渓ead to harsher discipline for minor infractions, especially for students of color,鈥� according to the report. And in Florida school districts that employ more than three SROs per 1,000 students, arrest rates are 鈥渕ore than double鈥� the rate of districts employing fewer than two SROs per 1,000 students. (The SRO in Kaia鈥檚 school was the person who called police, not the school鈥檚 head administrator, who did not want her arrested, according to one of her attorneys.)
The 人兽性交 report shows in granular detail how the state continues to send children down a path toward imprisonment. The results are eye-opening: high rates of school expulsions, dropouts, imprisonment and recidivism 鈥� particularly among Black youths, who are transferred to adult court for prosecution at nearly three times the rate of their white peers.
The report also makes clear that the state has no interest in rehabilitation. Punitive measures annually cost taxpayers over $130,000 per child 鈥� 2.5 times the annual cost of an education at Florida State University and the University of Florida combined 鈥� whereas positive alternatives to incarceration cost less than $3,500 a year per child.
鈥淔lorida鈥檚 punitive, zero tolerance approach makes schools less safe, not more,鈥� said Sam Boyd, senior supervising attorney with the 人兽性交鈥檚 Democracy: Education and Youth litigation team.
鈥淐hildren of color are disproportionately harmed by this failed policy.鈥�
Reports paint grim picture
Florida lawmakers responded to the national outrage over Kaia鈥檚 arrest by passing the 2021 . Signed into law with bipartisan support, the law would have prevented Kaia鈥檚 arrest. However, it only raised the minimum age for such an arrest to 7, instead of 12, as Kaia鈥檚 family and the 人兽性交 sought in the legislation.
Since passage of the law, the 人兽性交 Florida policy team has made raising the legal age for arrest to 14 one of its top legislative priorities. The law鈥檚 final form dropped restrictions on how children could be arrested and where children could be held, and the team wants them added to the current law.
鈥淭here is no medical or societal reason for an adult to put metal handcuffs on a child,鈥� said Jonathan Webber, 人兽性交 Florida policy director. 鈥淲hen police officers show up, they tend to use the tools they know 鈥� handcuffs, arrest and Baker Act seizures. Instead, children should be helped by people with training in youth behavior and mental health.鈥�
This approach is backed up by concluding that the brain of a young child 鈥� even a teen 鈥� is more susceptible to immature and irrational decision-making. Considering Kaia鈥檚 known physiological condition, her age, and her calm state before her arrest, 鈥渟he should have been seen as a child who needed help, not a criminal,鈥� Boyd said. 鈥淭hat kind of treatment can lead to years or lifelong trauma.鈥�
Boyd helped draft the initial Kaia Rolle Act legislation and was co-counsel in the 2021 lawsuit against Palm Beach County on behalf of students with disabilities.
The new report offers an overview of the state鈥檚 broad maltreatment of children who get into trouble at school and links together some aspects that have been examined in previous 人兽性交 reports, such as , a joint project with the National Women鈥檚 Law Center, and Costly and Cruel: How Misuse of the Baker Act Harms 37,000 Florida Children Each Year.
The misuse of Florida鈥檚 Baker Act, which permits the involuntary detention of people who by reason of mental illness pose an imminent danger of serious bodily harm to themselves or others, also has a disproportionate impact on Black children. Over 31% of children between 5 and 10 who were detained under the Baker Act in 2021-2022 were Black, though Black children comprised only 21% of Florida鈥檚 youth population that year, according to the new report.
If incarceration were not punishment enough, the state makes 鈥渆xcessive use of solitary confinement,鈥� according to the report, which can cause young people to commit self-harm and suicide. The calls for an end to solitary confinement of children for its 鈥渃ruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.鈥�
The report recommends that Florida stop the excessive solitary confinement of children and the incarceration of youth in adult facilities. It recommends alternatives other than incarceration for nonviolent offenses, in addition to reform of the Baker Act.
Another major recommendation is to amend the so-called , which gives prosecutors the sole authority to charge a child in youth or adult court, and instead include input from others.
No apology for Kaia
Kaia Rolle was released to her grandmother several hours after she was arrested, and the charges were later dropped. But the damage was done. The arrest left her with post-traumatic stress disorder and other damaging effects.
Kaia鈥檚 mother filed a lawsuit in 2022 on Kaia鈥檚 behalf against the city of Orlando and four police officers, charging them with 鈥渆xcessive force, false arrest, and malicious prosecution鈥� in violation of her 14th Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure.
The suit also asserts that the police department had an 鈥渦nwritten practice/policy that permitted police officers to arrest and/or charge children as young as six without probable cause that a crime had been committed鈥� and that the department鈥檚 failure to provide special training in de-escalation techniques for dealing with young children in mental distress led to her arrest.
In response, the city claims that her arrest was not 鈥渋n and of itself鈥� unconstitutional and that 鈥渨hether and how鈥� it trains its SROs is 鈥渄iscretionary.鈥�
A U.S. District Court judge in Orlando ruled against the city鈥檚 motion to dismiss the case in April, and a trial is set to begin on April 1, 2025.
鈥淭he city leadership hasn鈥檛 yet accepted that Kaia Rolle is meaningful to them,鈥� said Bobby DiCello, an attorney for Kaia. 鈥淚f they cared about her, we would have come together and decided in 10 minutes what should be done for her. I鈥檓 waiting for them to say, 鈥榃e care about Kaia. Let鈥檚 talk.鈥�
In the narrow sense, DiCello believes the arrest happened because the arresting officer was not trained properly and abused his authority.
But in the broader sense, he sees Florida and the country at large as objectifying its youth, especially children of color, instead of protecting and taking care of them.
鈥淏asic human kindness would have avoided this, but deep in our national conscience is a sense that people who are different racially, culturally, socially are hard to identify with 鈥� to see as a person.鈥�
Kaia and her grandmother, Meralyn Kirkland, declined to be interviewed for this article, but through another attorney for Kaia 鈥� Justin Abbarno 鈥� Kirkland relayed the following message, which she said she wants the public to hear:
鈥淛ust because Kaia isn鈥檛 interested in talking right now or presently in handcuffs doesn鈥檛 mean that she still doesn鈥檛 experience the trauma of being in handcuffs or that her family isn鈥檛 helping her battle through this trauma herself every day. She doesn鈥檛 want the perception that it鈥檚 over. It was a life-changing experience.鈥�
Picture at top: Meralyn Kirkland, custodial grandmother of Kaia Rolle, in a photo from 2019. That year, Kaia, then age 6, was arrested without Kirkland鈥檚 knowledge after having a tantrum at school. Outrage over Kaia鈥檚 arrest led to Florida鈥檚 Kaia Rolle Act, which raised the minimum age for arrest to 7. (Credit: Sarah Espedido/Orlando Sentinel/TNS/Alamy)
