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School
violence has increasingly come into the public eye due to
deadly multiple shootings in such places as Littleton, Colorado;
Jonesboro, Arkansas; and Springfield, Oregon. The possibility
of school shootings has become an issue for urban, rural,
and suburban communities alike. Since 1992, 22 schools have
experienced multiple victim homicides, many in communities
where people previously believed "it couldn't happen here."
Given
the number of students and schools in the United States, multiple
victim homicides are still extremely rare, and in recent years,
the overall rate of violence in schools has actually declined.
Physical conflicts, threats, and harassment are, however,
still common. Many students and teachers are more fearful
than ever before when they enter the doors of their school.
This climate of fear makes it more difficult for schools to
provide positive learning environments.
The
causes of school violence are subject to much speculation.
While the causes clearly lie in multiple areas, possible contributors
to school violence mentioned in the literature include:
Causes
- Exposure
to violence within the family and community.
- Child abuse
and neglect.
- Poor parenting
practices and lack of interest in children's activities.
- Peer pressure
to engage in harassment of other students, violent behavior,
drug or alcohol use, and truancy.
- Prejudices
based on race, religion, ethnicity, physical appearance,
social class, sexual orientation, disability, gender,
etc.
- Information
on how to make explosive devices and unsupervised access
to firearms.
- Excessive
exposure to violence in television programming, movies,
and video games.
- Drug or alcohol
abuse.
- Lack of conflict
resolution skills.
- Lack of quality
role models and the availability of inappropriate role
models.
- Perceived
lack of opportunity to be successful through legitimate
means.
- Failure to
detect and treat children exhibiting warning signs of
being troubled.
- Lack of adult
supervision of, and positive interaction with, children
after-school.
- Negative
student self-image.
Prevention
To
be effective, violence prevention programs require community-wide
collaborative efforts that include students, families, teachers,
administrators, staff, social and mental health professionals,
law enforcement, emergency response personnel, security professionals,
school board members, parents, the business community, etc.
School administrators should bring together all of the above
constituencies to develop strategies appropriate for their
own particular school and community environments.
While
school boards and administrators set the climate of safety
within schools, teachers, especially, must be directly involved
and supported in all stages of developing and implementing
programs to achieve safer schools. Teachers establish the
first line of school safety, because they have the most direct
contact with students. Often, they also have great insight
into the potential problems and realistic solutions applicable
to their school.
To read the rest
of this excellent guide for preventing and responding to school
violence, produced by The International Association of Chiefs
of Police, please click here: http://www.theiacp.org/pubinfo/pubs/pslc/svintro.htm
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