Dr. Charles Bell is an assistant professor in the Department of Criminal Justice Sciences at Illinois State whose research focuses on students’ and parents’ perceptions of out-of-school suspension, school safety measures, and law enforcement officers. Bell and his graduate student, Yola Akakpo, have just published a peer-reviewed article titled Continuity of the “code”: A review of the subcultures and informal social norms in prisons, streets, and schools. This project focuses on understanding how school punishment impacts students’ social status in public schools.
Regarding the code, Bell explained, “Students were responding to these informal social norms in school. They were walking into a school, and they realized that they were not protected. They’re unsafe, and they realized that. Consequently, students learned about the ‘code’ and the rules that regulate the use of violence in school settings.” For example, students might decide to fight back if they got hit or were beaten in school. If they did not fight back, the students were often viewed as “weak” or “afraid” by their peers and attacked.
Bell has conducted multiple studies about punishment in school, but he has stated the difference within this project is, “the relationship between the inmate code literature, the street code, and the school code theory I developed. There was no body of literature that links the inmate, street, and school codes consistently, and what I found is that in my school code research, younger students were learning about this code in public schools, and they were encountering it for the first time. These students had no knowledge of the streets or prison settings. That’s why they’re coming to school and they’re realizing for the first time that they’re unprotected.”
Bell’s project focuses on the similarities between the convict, street, and school codes. “Using the ‘code’ as an initial point of intervention in public schools could help with reducing mass incarceration and school suspension,” Bell said. “When we create a safe environment, we could potentially eliminate this code in public schools and prevent students from navigating the school of prison pipeline later in life.”
Additionally, this is the first time Bell has co-authored with Yola Akakpo to complete a project. Akakpo, a Criminal Justice Science graduate student, has an undergraduate degree in psychology. Her research interests include crime mapping, school to prison pipeline (specifically African American students), and exploring why female officers are leaving policing. She had a chance to join in this project with Bell, giving her an opportunity to learn from him and improve her skills.
“I think the collaboration was well received, it was great to work with Yola,” Bell said. “She had a really strong interest in the project, which was amazing to me. We work very well together, and I think that she’s an amazing student who will do great things in our discipline.”
After this project, Bell will work on his new project which focuses on Black and white families of children with disabilities experiences’ with school seclusion and restraint.
For further information, learn more about the interview of Dr. Bell with Lakeshore PBS here.
Interested in learning more about Criminal Justice Sciences? Check out their website for more information.
