Navigating Spatial Enclosures: Race, Place, and School Policing

Law enforcement’s increased presence in U.S. public schools has significantly affected Black students’ access to opportunities and their overall safety. Limited attention has been paid to the broader context in which school policing operates, extending beyond school buildings and embedded in larger neighborhood dynamics. We develop a theory of “spatial enclosures” to describe how policing manifests across schools, neighborhoods, and school police departments, shaping Black students’ everyday experiences. Drawing on a dataset of 120 interviews with Black high school students in a large urban school district, we find that Black students fear their education being stolen by police officers’ control over their time, school routines, and opportunities to learn. This shared concern is influenced by race and location, affecting how Black students interact with the police and develop strategies to navigate such encounters. Many Black students actively engage in social justice networks to protect their education. Prolonged involvement in these networks equips Black students with culturally sustaining knowledge and strategies to navigate the harms posed by spatial enclosures. These findings have important implications for understanding how school policing not only affects physical spaces but also profoundly influences students’ perceptions and experiences of time and their equal access to educational opportunities.