The purpose of this research study was to investigate the moral and legal issues around physically restraining students in Massachusetts public schools. As Massachusetts law is written, the use of restraints on a student should be the last possible resort. However, this thesis used data on restraint use from the Massachusetts Department of Education and a survey of school administrators to gain a better understanding of the 38,994 student restraints that were used in 2016-2017 school year. Findings of this study include that Hispanic and African-American students were more likely to attend schools that used restraints than those that did not. Also, students who were classified as high-needs, economically disadvantaged and disabled were more likely to attend schools that used restraints than schools that did not.
","abstract_html":"<p>The purpose of this research study was to investigate the moral and legal issues around physically restraining students in Massachusetts public schools. As Massachusetts law is written, the use of restraints on a student should be the last possible resort. However, this thesis used data on restraint use from the Massachusetts Department of Education and a survey of school administrators to gain a better understanding of the 38,994 student restraints that were used in 2016-2017 school year. Findings of this study include that Hispanic and African-American students were more likely to attend schools that used restraints than those that did not. Also, students who were classified as high-needs, economically disadvantaged and disabled were more likely to attend schools that used restraints than schools that did not.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Hall, Elyce"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science in Criminal Justice","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Criminal Justice","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Dr. Jennifer Hartsfield
Dr. Michael DeValve
Dr. Emily Brissette
"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2020,"date_issued":"2020-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2020-05-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:22:00Z","subjects":["Civil Rights and Discrimination","Criminal Law","Disability and Equity in Education","Social Justice","State and Local Government Law","Ethics","Legal issues","Massachusetts","Public schools","School crisis management","United States","People with disabilities","African American","Hispanic Americans","Poverty","America"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://vc.bridgew.edu/theses/88","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Dr. Jennifer Hartsfield
Dr. Michael DeValve
Dr. Emily Brissette
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"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Restraints in Massachusetts Public Schools"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Dr. Jennifer Hartsfield
Dr. Michael DeValve
Dr. Emily Brissette
"],"dc:creator":["Hall, Elyce"],"dc:date.available":["2021-11-22T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["The purpose of this research study was to investigate the moral and legal issues around physically restraining students in Massachusetts public schools. As Massachusetts law is written, the use of restraints on a student should be the last possible resort. However, this thesis used data on restraint use from the Massachusetts Department of Education and a survey of school administrators to gain a better understanding of the 38,994 student restraints that were used in 2016-2017 school year. Findings of this study include that Hispanic and African-American students were more likely to attend schools that used restraints than those that did not. Also, students who were classified as high-needs, economically disadvantaged and disabled were more likely to attend schools that used restraints than schools that did not.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://vc.bridgew.edu/theses/88"],"dc:subject":["Civil Rights and Discrimination","Criminal Law","Disability and Equity in Education","Social Justice","State and Local Government Law","Ethics","Legal issues","Massachusetts","Public schools","School crisis management","United States","People with disabilities","African American","Hispanic Americans","Poverty","America"],"dc:title":["Restraints in Massachusetts Public Schools"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Criminal Justice"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science in Criminal Justice"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:22:00Z"}