Texas Referred Over 47,000 Students for Prosecution Since 2014

More than 47,000 Texas students between the ages of 10 and 13 have been referred for prosecution by school-based police officers since 2014. The cases ranged from serious offenses like assaulting classmates and teachers or bringing weapons to school, to less severe incidents such as marijuana use or disruptive behavior.

An analysis of Texas Juvenile Justice Department records by The New York Times in partnership with The San Antonio Express-News indicates that prosecution referrals for 10- to 13-year-olds were relatively stable from 2014 to 2017, averaging around 3,500 per year. This figure saw a modest increase to just over 4,000 annually between 2017 and 2019, before declining during the COVID-19 school closures in 2020 and 2021.

Following the Uvalde school shooting in May 2022, which resulted in the deaths of 19 elementary school students and two teachers, the Texas legislature enacted a law requiring a police officer to be stationed at every public school in the state. In the 2022-2023 school year, student prosecution referrals rose to approximately 5,500. While referrals decreased to around 4,500 per year between 2023 and 2025, this still represented an increase of about 22 percent compared to a decade prior.

Officials in many Texas school districts assert that the presence of police officers on campuses has enhanced safety. Incidents have occurred where heightened police presence has potentially averted school shootings. For example, in April 2024, a K9 search at Claughton Middle School in the Houston area led to the discovery of a gun and the arrest of a student. In May 2025, authorities in San Antonio reported thwarting a shooting planned by a 13-year-old boy at his middle school. In separate incidents that same month, an 11-year-old boy was arrested at a different San Antonio middle school after a gun was found in his backpack, and a 12-year-old student was arrested for bringing a gun to his middle school in Humble.

However, critics argue that the increased number of officers has led to a rise in arrests for incidents that could have been handled by school administrators. They contend that arresting children as young as 10 can be traumatizing and may lead to long-term behavioral issues and academic decline. Laquital Thompson, a mother from Galveston, recounted an incident where her 12-year-old daughter, who has a behavioral disorder, was suspended for being disruptive. An officer was called when the girl refused to wait in the lobby for her mother, leading to her being placed in handcuffs after a brief exchange. Body camera footage confirmed the account, showing the girl later taken to a police station and experiencing an arm twist from an officer when she resisted a fingerprint scan. She was subsequently charged with trespassing and placed on a year's probation after pleading guilty. Thompson stated that the incident exacerbated her daughter's difficulties with attention and behavior in school.

Texas law states that school resource officers should not be involved in routine student discipline, but the definition of "routine discipline" remains unclear. Phillip Lyons, dean of the College of Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University, suggested that in the absence of active threats, officers may default to making arrests. Conversely, school district police officials maintain that their presence contributes to campus safety. Kirby Warnke, chief of the Corpus Christi school district's police department and president of the Texas School District Police Chiefs’ Association, views student arrests as a potential "teaching moment." Joseph Sanders, former chief of the Forney school district's police department, credited his department's creation in 2020 with reducing violent behavior and threats among students.