These definitions and explanations are from the California Department of Education's Suspensions and Expulsions glossary. More information can be found in the suspensions and expulsions reports on DataQuest at https://dq.cde.ca.gov
Federal Offense Categories, Defiance Only, and "Other"
In order to report summaries of student-level disciplinary outcomes (suspensions and expulsions), the CDE has mapped each of the 33 California Education Code sections reported in CALPADS to their corresponding Federal Offense categories and the following suggested Federal severity hierarchy:
- Violent Incident (Injury)
- Violent Incident (No Injury)
- Weapons Possession (No Injury)
- Illicit Drug Related (Includes Alcohol)
- Defiance Only (Not Part of the Federal Hierarchy)
- Other (Not Part of the Federal Hierarchy)
IMPORTANT NOTE: For DataQuest reporting, all suspensions and expulsions are counted under the Federal Offense Category associated with the most severe offense committed by a student in an incident, unless the most severe offense committed belongs to the “Defiance Only” or “Other” non-federal categories.
Violent Incident (Injury)
This Federal Offense Category includes the following California Education Code sections:
| California Education Code Section | Offense Description |
|---|---|
| 48915(c)(4), 48900(n) | Sexual Battery/Assault |
| 48915(a)(1) | Caused Physical Injury |
| 48915(a)(5) | Committed Assault or Battery on a School Employee |
| 48900(a)(2) | Used Force or Violence |
| 48900.3 | Committed an act of Hate Violence |
| 48900(q) | Hazing |
Violent Incident (No Injury)
This Federal Offense Category includes the following California Education Code sections:
| California Education Code Section | Offense Description |
|---|---|
| 48900.2 | Sexual Harassment |
| 48900(a)(1) | Caused, Attempted, or Threatened Physical Injury |
| 48900(t) | Aided or Abetted Physical Injury |
| 48900.4 | Harassment or Intimidation |
| 48900(o) | Harassment, Intimidation of a Witness |
| 48900.7 | Made Terrorist Threats |
| 48900(i) | Obscene Acts, Profanity, and Vulgarity |
| 48900(r) | Bullying |
Weapons Possession
This Federal Offense Category includes the following California Education Code sections:
| California Education Code Section | Offense Description |
|---|---|
| 48915(c)(1) | Possession, Sale, Furnishing a Firearm |
| 48900(b) | Possession, Sale, Furnishing a Firearm or Knife |
| 48915(c)(2) | Brandishing a Knife |
| 48915(a)(2) | Possession of a Knife or Dangerous Object |
| 48915(c)(5) | Possession of an Explosive |
Illicit Drug Related (Includes Alcohol)
This Federal Offense Category includes the following California Education Code sections:
| California Education Code Section | Offense Description |
|---|---|
| 48915(c)(3) | Sale of Controlled Substance |
| 48915(a)(3) | Possession of Controlled Substance |
| 48900(c) | Possession, Use, Sale, or Furnishing a Controlled Substance, Alcohol, Intoxicant |
| 48900(d) | Offering, Arranging, or Negotiating Sale of Controlled Substances, Alcohol, Intoxicants |
| 48900(j) | Offering, Arranging, or Negotiating Sale of Drug Paraphernalia |
| 48900(p) | Offering, Arranging, or Negotiating Sale of the prescription drug Soma |
“Defiance Only” for Suspension/Expulsion
Any suspension or expulsion associated with a student in which the only offense committed by a student is disruption is considered a “Defiance Only” incident.
| California Education Code Section | Offense Description |
|---|---|
| 48900(k)1 | Disruption, Defiance1 |
“Other” Reason for Suspension/Expulsion
This category includes the following California Education Code sections, most of which are NOT included in any of the Federal Offense Categories. The only offense that is reportable in the Federal category of “Other” is EC 48900(m)—Possession of an Imitation Firearm:
| California Education Code Section | Offense Description |
|---|---|
| 48900(m) | Possession of an Imitation Firearm |
| 48900(h)2 | Possession or Use of Tobacco Products2 |
| 48900(f) | Property Damage |
| 48915(a)(4) | Robbery or Extortion |
| 48900(g) | Property Theft |
| 48900(l) | Received Stolen Property |
1See Section “Federal Offense Categories (And ‘Other’)” for more information.
2Tobacco related offenses are listed under the “Other” offense category for DataQuest reporting purposes, however, these same offense are reported under the “Illicit Drug” offense category to the Federal US Department of Education.