Zero tolerance

The term zero tolerance refers to automatic punishment for even mild violations of certain rules. The policy forbids any consideration of how or why it happened. It is mostly applied to minor offenses by homeless people, and the disorders associated with them. It is also sometimes used in schools, the military and businesses.

The first recorded use for the term was 1972, though it might have been used earlier. In certain schools, zero tolerance applies to any knife regardless of its type. Credible evidence, though, does not support zero tolerance rules having positive effects.^[1] In fact, suspensions may result in embarrassment to schools and students or even bad publicity. The policy has been criticized for violating Law Enforcement Codes.