Current Document Zero tolerance has become the latest contemporary educational issue for the Christian school leader. Zero tolerance policies impose predetermined consequences for specific crimes. According to a government study, more than three-quarters of all U.S. schools reported having zero-tolerance policies (Holloway, 2002). Systematic guidelines for implementing zero tolerance require educational leaders to impose a predetermined punishment, regardless of individual culpability or extenuating circumstances (Gorman & Pauken, 2003). Ethical decision making and the opportunity to apply biblical principles have taken a back seat to reactive discipline from school leaders. Societal expectations have forced proactive educational leaders to become impulsive decision makers. Legal Expectations Zero tolerance is a policy that imposes severe, predetermined consequences for specific crimes in an attempt to treat all offenders equally (Fries & DeMitchell, 2007). Zero tolerance began as a congressional initiative to control drugs, guns, and violent behavior in the early 1980s and was well known throughout the country by 1988. It can be traced back to the Gun Free Schools Act of 1994. The 1994 requires that states have a law in place requiring schools to suspend students for possessing weapons on school grounds. Students who violate this law are suspended for one school year and enter the juvenile justice system (Stader, 2004). The Gun Free Schools Act allows school superintendents to modify expulsion requirements on a case-by-case basis by allowing states to enact their own statutes. Zero tolerance policies in most states include the Gun Free Schools Act of 1994, as well as gang activities… half of document… Views from the classroom. Journal of Law and Education, 36. Retrieved December 2, 2011, from ProQuest database. Garbarino, J., Dubrow, N., Kostelny, K. & Pardo, C. (1992). Children in danger. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Jobe, D. A. (2003). Helping girls succeed. Educational Leadership, 60(4), 66.Henault, C. (2001). Zero tolerance in schools. Journal of Law and Education, 30. Retrieved December 2, 2011, from ProQuest database. Holloway, J. H. (2002). The zero tolerance dilemma. Educational leadership. 59(4), 85.Ma, X. & Willms, J.D. (2004). School disciplinary climate: characteristics and effects on eighth grade performance. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 50(2), 169-188.Stader, D. L. (2004). Zero tolerance as public policy: The good, the bad and the ugly. The Clearing House, 78. Retrieved December 2, 2011, from the ProQuest database.