Student arrest is a reality that is prevalent in numerous schools, universities, colleges and campuses around the world. 

Student arrest, defined by the law, is a form of arrest that is performed and initiated by the police and governing peacekeepers, to students who are causing, initiating and inciting violence, conflict and trouble in schools, campuses and universities. 

Student arrest originated  from the promulgation and constitutional basis of the so-called “School Disturbance Laws.” These laws were created for the reason that it strongly prohibits and instils penalties to those individuals concerned that are proven guilty in causing a disturbance, to the smooth flow of operations within the school, campus, college and university. In addition, these laws greatly rely on the premise that, if the concerned student causes the mere fact and event of disturbing the school, that in itself is a crime. 

Furthermore, the application of these laws may result in the arrest, expulsion and incarceration of students.

On the other side of the coin, the United States of America has adopted the criminal justice and judicial program named: “School to Prison Pipeline” which caters to the cases that involve students of all ages who were imprisoned due to student arrest. 

Moreover, this judicial program has also served as a platform of channeling the issues and concerns of the imprisoned students, and that in it, contributes to the welfare and hopefully, to the betterment of the arrested, detained and imprisoned students of the country.

In some parts of the globe, the judicial program of the United States has been adapted as well in some other countries. This is in hopes that arrested students will be free of violence and harassment. 

On that note, unfortunately, the frequent and transpiring events and scenarios of student arrests, have created adversed, traumatic and a long-term impact on the students in terms of being a waterloo in academic performance, the ability to remain in the country concerned respective educational system, the likelihood linkage of being involved in adult incarceration and the detrimental effect to their future success in society. 

In this article, we will be focusing on 4 different points of view, stories, experiences , opinions and testimonies of students, who themselves have experienced the impeding and horrendous reality of student arrest, and how this has caused greatly, their lifetime and individuality in entirety. 

Messiah Young and Taniyah Pilgrim

First and second, let us take into the limelight the two testimonies and horrific student arrest experiences of two students and friends, from Atlanta, Georgia, which resulted in the arrest of six Atlanta police officers. The officers were charged with the usage of excessive force, just because they were involved in a traffic jam that began through the protest of students whom they themselves are not even involved in. 

According to Messiah Young, he garnered multiple injuries in his body. He incurred multiple stitches in his ribs and limbs, due to the police’s use of inappropriate force, that resulted in excruciating pain, at the back part of his body.

Messiah also stated that he believes that this experience is a nightmare that he will never forget in his life. In addition to that, he was forcibly pushed to enter the police car and was even suspected of owning a gun. He was blamed for joining the specific arrests, which is not true. 

On the other hand, Taniyah Pilgrim emphasized her thought that she almost believed that she would be killed because of the incident of unlawful arrest, as well as the character assassination that she experienced alongside with Messiah. The situation caused her anxiety, confusion and trauma. 

Both Messiah and Taniyah believe that students who work hard for their future by studying hard and doing their best in their respective academic institutions should not experience such nightmare and trauma like they did. 

Despite the trauma that they incurred from such an event, they decided to continue with life, move on from that experience, and both firmly believe that change in the government, in culture and in law enforcement should start from within the individual 

Ahmed Mohamed

Ahmed is 14 years old who was back then, a high school student of Irving MacArthur High in 2015. 

According to Ahmed, he enjoys the hobby of inventing and creating new things out of his pure love for science. However, when he decided to bring in his own homemade clock to school to show it to his teachers and classmates, the result was not all pleasing. 

His very love for science resulted in his arrest, as his teacher, together with the police officers, has mistaken his invention as a hoax bomb. 

Mohamed was brought to the school’s disciplinary office wherein he was interrogated and detained in front of 4 police officers together with his teacher. Despite the denials and resistance that he did, Ahmed was sadly asked to pose for a mugshot picture of himself, as well as the imprinting of his fingerprints and thumb marks for further investigation on the case. 

Ahmed in the long run was proven innocent and was released from detention. 

With this experience, Ahmed realized that, despite the interest that he has for science and with inventions, it is still important to play safe at all times. Furthermore, the message that he wants to address to the students who are probable to be involved in a situation like his is to always tell the truth, to never be covered up with fear. 

Jose Gonzalez and Collin Howard

Unlike the other 3 features whose cases surround mistaken identities, the last for this article are students who caused conflict and violence in different schools using the online world. 

Jose Gonzalez, a 17-year-old Dallas ISD student faced a case in 2015. He was charged because of his act of terrorizing the students in Moises E. Molina High School in Dallas, Texas, USA in social media. He made terroristic threats by saying that the students will be killed during their graduation because of IEDs placed around the graduation site. 

The arrested perpetrator availed of a bail and was reprimanded by the authorities to never do grave online threatening in the future. 

His terroristic action took everyone by surprised as he is known to be a high performing student in terms of academics. 

Another student goes by the name of Collin Howard, a 17-year-old UC Santa Cruz was arrested by the authorities. He was accused and charged for being the person behind “Banana Plug”, an application disguised as a game but is actually a market for cocaine, molly, and shrooms. He was bailed by his parents and was released by the authorities. 

In conclusion to this article, student arrest can happen to any student either as a victim or as the perpetrator. But as a general implication, no student deserves to be arrested without any evidence of him or her committing such horrendous acts of threat and violence. But on the other hand, those who committed such, are due to whatever consequences are entitled to whatever wrong they have done.