Publication Date
9-2023
Document Type
Article
Abstract
: In American schools, conversations about violence prioritize direct violence, while indirect violence is virtually ignored. This current emphasis overlooks the structural violence deeply embedded in America’s social, political, and economic institutions, which were intentionally designed to exclude, and position some groups to experience disproportionate levels of poverty, exploitation, and persecution. To understand the mechanisms of structural violence, the concepts of structural violence and total institutions, the tenets of Disability Critical Race Theory can be used as an analytical lens. This retrospective comparative case study does so by exploring similarities in the lived experiences of Black, Emotionally Disturbed males across metropolitan special education, juvenile justice, and medical systems. The findings demonstrate a “convergence of violence” in America’s juvenile justice, medical, and special education systems, collectively pushing K–12-aged participants into carceral sites, denying them voice and choice, and providing them with performative healthcare. Our study recommends that institutions designed to serve K–12-aged learners use cross-sector collaborations to meet holistic learner needs and mitigate pressures to engage in direct violence. Specifically, we offer the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child model as a national approach to increase access to healthcare providers, social services, and mental health services, as well as engaging community stakeholders critical to understanding the cultural context of learners’ lived experiences.
DOI
10.3390/laws12050080
Journal Title
Laws
Volume (Issue)
12 (5)
Journal ISSN
2075-471x
Recommended Citation
Indar, Gavyitri Kavita; Barrow, Christine Sharon; and Whitaker, Warren E. Ph.D., "A Convergence of Violence: Structural Violence Experiences of K–12, Black, Disabled Males across Multiple Systems" (2023). Faculty Publications: Education. 5.
https://digitalcommons.molloy.edu/edu_facpub/5
Document Version
Publisher's PDF
Publisher's Statement
Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
