State Agrees to Regulate School-Arrest Data Collection Following CPIAC-Led Petition
9.21.26 — The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) agreed on August 24, 2026, to promulgate regulations guiding school districts on collecting and reporting school-based-arrest data — a policy win that traces directly back to Northeastern Law’s Center for Public Interest Advocacy and Collaboration (CPIAC) Cradle-to-Prison Pipeline Project (C2P Project). CPIAC staff testified before the state’s Model School Resource Officer MOU Commission earlier this year, pushing for better tracking of student arrests and law-enforcement referrals, and backed An Act to Ensure Equitable Access to Education Services for All Students (H.546/S.317). The testimony drew on records requests filed with more than 300 Massachusetts police departments and school districts on juvenile arrests at school. DESE’s decision followed a rulemaking petition CPIAC filed alongside the Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee, Citizens for Juvenile Justice, Massachusetts Appleseed Center for Law and Justice and the Parent/Professional Advocacy League.
“Every school-based arrest represents a child being taken out of school in handcuffs, a traumatic and life-altering event. Data shows that children of color and children with disabilities are more likely to experience arrests than white, able-bodied students. These regulations will help put a number to how many children are experiencing these arrests and help us advocate for change in these systems,” said Professor Lucy Williams, faculty co-director of CPIAC.
The C2P Project, CPIAC’s flagship research initiative, brings together CPIAC, Northeastern’s Bouvé College, and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology to identify and test policy solutions to stop the cradle-to-prison pipeline in Massachusetts by working alongside currently and formerly incarcerated people, lawyers, educators, social workers, advocates and nonprofits. Since launching in 2019, C2P has centered lived experience on the theory that the people closest to a broken system are best positioned to explain what’s wrong with it and how to fix it. That’s shown up in video narratives from formerly incarcerated people (with Everyday Boston), a survey of hundreds of incarcerated Massachusetts residents on their pathways into the system, a public-facing resource hub at cradle2prison.info, student research through the Legal Skills in Social Context program, original research focusing on congregate facilities in the family regulation system, and public events like “I Am Not a Bad Parent,” a collaboration with Citizens for Juvenile Justice and Northastern University College of Arts, Media and Design’s The Family Project, which spotlights parents caught up in the family regulation system.
About Northeastern University School of Law
The nation’s leader in experiential legal education since 1968, Northeastern University School of Law offers the longest-running, most extensive experience-based legal education program in the country. Northeastern provides its students with unparalleled practical legal work experiences through its signature Cooperative Legal Education Program. More than 1,000 employers worldwide in a wide range of legal, government, nonprofit and business organizations participate in the program. With a focus on social justice and innovation, Northeastern University School of Law blends theory and practice, providing students with a unique set of skills and experiences to successfully practice law.
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About the Center for Public Interest Advocacy and Collaboration
The Center for Public Interest Advocacy and Collaboration (CPIAC) at Northeastern Law leads the infusion of the law school’s public interest mission into all facets of the student experience. Through teaching, practice, research and networking, CPIAC seeks to enhance the role of law and legal practice in achieving social, economic and environmental justice. CPIAC pilots programs and supports fellows and cross-disciplinary collaborations with academic, professional, advocacy and grassroots communities. Northeastern Law is ranked No. 2 for public interest by preLaw magazine.