Books
Groundbreaking research on school discipline, violence, and education policy.
NYU Press • February 2026
No Restraint
Disabled Children and Institutionalized Violence in America's Schools
A wake-up call on the use and abuse of restraints against disabled children in public schools.
Over 100,000 students are restrained and secluded in locked rooms throughout US public schools; the overwhelming majority are students with disabilities. Despite pleas from parents, disability rights organizations, and at least seventeen state Attorneys General, Congress has refused to pass laws to protect these students.
In No Restraint, Charles Bell argues that seclusion and restraint are so harmful and traumatic that they provoke night terrors, a profound aversion to school, and self-harm in children. Students reported being subjected to aggressive restraint tactics that left bruises on their arms and legs, dragged into seclusion rooms that resemble solitary confinement cells in prisons, and locked inside.
Featuring extensive interviews across fifteen states with parents of Black and white children with disabilities, Bell explores how these practices impact families and investigates how inadequate training contributes to the misuse of these practices.
Praise
“No Restraint provides a truly disturbing account of how schools can harm children. Anyone who cares about school policy and children’s welfare in schools must read No Restraint.”
— Aaron Kupchik, author of Suspended Education
“This book is more than a social science study with policy prescriptions; it’s a reflection of our collective failure to protect those we claim to care about the most.”
— Waverly Duck, author of No Way Out
Book Trailer
Johns Hopkins University Press • 2021
Suspended
Punishment, Violence, and the Failure of School Safety
C. Wright Mills Book Award Finalist
The disturbing truth: school suspension does more than impede Black students’ academic achievement—it also impacts their parents’ employment and can violate state and federal laws.
Decades of urban disinvestment and poverty have made educational attainment for Black youth more vital than at any time in recent history. Yet in their pursuit of quality education, many Black families are burdened by challenging barriers to success, most notably the frequency and severity of school punishment.
Focusing on schools in inner-city and suburban Detroit, Charles Bell draws on 160 in-depth interviews with Black high school students, their parents, and their teachers to illuminate the negative outcomes that are associated with out-of-school suspension.
Bell also sheds light on the inherent shortcomings of school safety measures as he describes how schools fail to protect Black students, which leaves them vulnerable to bullying and victimization. A thought-provoking and urgent work, Suspended calls for an inclusive national dialogue on school punishment and safety reform.
Praise
“Suspended is a penetrating study that reveals how school suspensions and unfair grading practices target inner-city Black children and set them up to fail in later life—a stinging indictment and a must-read for anyone wanting to truly understand persistent urban poverty.”
— Elijah Anderson, Yale University, author of Code of the Street: Decency, Violence, and the Moral Life of the Inner City
“Bell’s analysis of students’ experiences with anti-Blackness and school punishment is both powerful and gut-wrenching. Educators and student advocates who are serious about reducing violence in schools—especially the violence schools themselves perpetrate—need to read this unique and important book.”
— Aaron Kupchik, University of Delaware, author of The Real School Safety Problem: The Long-Term Consequences of Harsh School Punishment