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How to Identify and Prevent School Violence

Sanjana is a health writer and editor. Her work spans various health-related topics, including mental health, fitness, nutrition, and wellness.

Ann-Louise T. Lockhart, PsyD, ABPP, is a board-certified pediatric psychologist, parent coach, author, speaker, and owner of A New Day Pediatric Psychology, PLLC.

Yasser Chalid / Getty Images

Recognizing the Signs of School Violence

School violence refers to violence that takes place in a school setting. This includes violence on school property, on the way to or from school, and at school trips and events. It may be committed by students, teachers, or other members of the school staff; however, violence by fellow students is the most common.

An estimated 246 million children experience school violence every year; however, girls and gender non-conforming people are disproportionately affected.

"School violence can be anything that involves a real or implied threat—it can be verbal, sexual, or physical, and perpetrated with or without weapons. If someone is deliberately harming someone or acting in a way that leaves someone feeling threatened, that‘s school violence,” says Aimee Daramus , PsyD, a licensed clinical psychologist.

This article explores the types, causes, and impact of school violence and suggests some steps that can help prevent it.

Types of School Violence

School violence can take many forms. These are some of the types of school violence:

• Physical violence , which includes any kind of physical aggression, the use of weapons, as well as criminal acts like theft or arson.
• Psychological violence , which includes emotional and verbal abuse . This may involve insulting, threatening, ignoring, isolating, rejecting, name-calling, humiliating, ridiculing, rumor-mongering, lying, or punishing another person.
• Sexual violence , which includes sexual harrassment, sexual intimidation, unwanted touching, sexual coercion, and rape .
• Bullying , which can take physical, psychological, or sexual forms and is characterized by repeated and intentional aggression toward another person.
• Cyberbullying , which includes sexual or psychological abuse by people connected through school on social media or other online platforms. This may involve posting false information, hurtful comments, malicious rumors, or embarrassing photos or videos online. Cyberbullying can also take the form of excluding someone from online groups or networks.

Causes of School Violence

There often isn’t a simple, straightforward reason why someone engages in school violence. A child may have been bullied or rejected by a peer, may be under a lot of academic pressure, or may be enacting something they’ve seen at home, in their neighborhood, on television, or in a video game.

These are some of the risk factors that can make a child more likely to commit school violence:

• Poor academic performance
• Prior history of violence
• Hyperactive or impulsive personality
• Mental health conditions
• Witnessing or being a victim of violence
• Alcohol, drug, or tobacco use
• Dysfunctional family dynamic
• Domestic violence or abuse
• Access to weapons
• Delinquent peers
• Poverty or high crime rates in the community

It’s important to note that the presence of these factors doesn’t necessarily mean that the child will engage in violent behavior.

Impact of School Violence

Below, Dr. Daramus explains how school violence can affect children who commit, experience, and witness it, as well as their parents.

Impact on Children Committing Violence

Children who have been victims of violence or exposed to it in some capacity sometimes believe that becoming violent is the only way they‘ll ever be safe.

When they commit violence, they may experience a sense of satisfaction when their emotional need for strength or safety is satisfied. That‘s short-lived however, because they start to fear punishment or retribution, which triggers anger that can sometimes lead to more violence if they’re scared of what might happen to them if they don’t protect themselves. 

Children need help to try and break the cycle; they need to understand that violence can be temporarily satisfying but that it leads to more problems.

Impact on Children Victimized by School Violence

Victims of school violence may get physically injured and experience cuts, scrapes, bruises, broken bones, gunshot wounds, concussions, physical disability, or death.

Emotionally speaking, the child might experience depression , anxiety, or rage. Their academic performance may suffer because it can be hard to focus in school when all you can think about is how to avoid being hurt again.

School violence is traumatic and can cause considerable psychological distress. Traumatic experiences can be difficult for adults too; however, when someone whose brain is not fully developed yet experiences trauma, especially if it’s over a long time, their brain can switch to survival mode, which can affect their attention, concentration, emotional control, and long-term health. 

According to a 2019 study, children who have experienced school violence are at risk for long-term mental and physical health conditions, including attachment disorders, substance abuse, obesity, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and respiratory conditions.

The more adverse childhood experiences someone has, the greater the risk to their physical and mental health as an adult.

Impact on Children Who Witness School Violence

Children who witness school violence may feel guilty about seeing it and being too afraid to stop it. They may also feel threatened, and their brain may react in a similar way to a child who has faced school violence.

Additionally, when children experience or witness trauma , their basic beliefs about life and other people are often changed. They no longer believe that the world is safe, which can be damaging to their mental health.

For a child to be able to take care of themselves as they get older, they need to first feel safe and cared for. Learning to cope with threats is an advanced lesson that has to be built on a foundation of feeling safe and self-confident.

Children who have experienced or witnessed school violence can benefit from therapy, which can help them process the trauma, regulate their emotions, and learn coping skills to help them heal.

Impact on Parents

Parents react to school violence in all kinds of ways. Some parents encourage their children to bully others, believing that violence is strength. Some try to teach their children how to act in a way that won’t attract bullying or other violence, but that never works and it may teach the child to blame themselves for being bullied. 

Others are proactive and try to work with the school or challenge the school if necessary, to try and keep their child safe. 

It can be helpful to look out for warning signs of violence, which can include:

• Talking about or playing with weapons of any kind
• Harming pets or other animals
• Threatening or bullying others
• Talking about violence, violent movies, or violent games
• Speaking or acting aggressively

It’s important to report these signs to parents, teachers, or school authorities. The child may need help and support, and benefit from intervention .

Preventing School Violence

Dr. Daramus shares some steps that can help prevent school violence:

• Report it to the school: Report any hint of violent behavior to school authorities. Tips can be a huge help in fighting school violence. Many schools allow students to report tips anonymously.
• Inform adults: Children who witness or experience violence should keep telling adults (parents, teachers, and counselors) until someone does something. If an adult hears complaints about a specific child from multiple people, they may be able to protect other students and possibly help the child engaging in violence to learn different ways.
• Reach out to people: Reach out to children or other people at the school who seem to be angry or upset, or appear fascinated with violence. Reach out to any child, whether bullied, bullying, or neither, who seems to have anxiety, depression, or trouble managing emotions. Most of the time the child won’t be violent, but you’ll have helped them anyway by being supportive.

A Word From Verywell

School violence can be traumatic for everyone involved, particularly children. It’s important to take steps to prevent it because children who witness or experience school violence may suffer physical and mental health consequences that can persist well into adulthood.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Preventing school violence .

UNESCO. What you need to know about school violence and bullying .

UNESCO. School violence and bullying .

Nemours Foundation. School violence: what students can do .

Ehiri JE, Hitchcock LI, Ejere HO, Mytton JA. Primary prevention interventions for reducing school violence . Cochrane Database Syst Rev . 2017;2017(3):CD006347. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD006347.pub2

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Understanding school violence .

Ferrara P, Franceschini G, Villani A, Corsello G. Physical, psychological and social impact of school violence on children . Italian Journal of Pediatrics . 2019;45(1):76. doi:10.1186/s13052-019-0669-z

By Sanjana Gupta Sanjana is a health writer and editor. Her work spans various health-related topics, including mental health, fitness, nutrition, and wellness.

Home — Essay Samples — Social Issues — Youth Violence — Violence in Schools: Causes and Effects

Analysis of The Cause and Effect of School Violence

• Categories: Bullying Youth Violence

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Published: Mar 14, 2019

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Violence in schools (essay)

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What you need to know about school violence and bullying

Bullying in schools deprives millions of children and young people of their fundamental right to education. A recent UNESCO report revealed that more than 30% of the world's students have been victims of bullying, with devastating consequences on academic achievement, school dropout, and physical and mental health.

The world is marking the first International Day against Violence and Bullying at School Including Cyberbullying , on 5 November. Here is what you need to know about school violence and bullying.

What is school violence?

School violence refers to all forms of violence that takes place in and around schools and is experienced by students and perpetrated by other students, teachers and other school staff. This includes bullying and cyberbullying. Bullying is one of the most pervasive forms of school violence, affecting 1 in 3 young people.

What forms may school violence take?

Based on existing international surveys that collect data on violence in schools, UNESCO recognizes the following forms of school violence:

• Physical violence, which is any form of physical aggression with intention to hurt perpetrated by peers, teachers or school staff.
• Psychological violence as verbal and emotional abuse, which includes any forms of isolating, rejecting, ignoring, insults, spreading rumors, making up lies, name-calling, ridicule, humiliation and threats, and psychological punishment.
• Sexual violence, which includes intimidation of a sexual nature, sexual harassment, unwanted touching, sexual coercion and rape, and it is perpetrated by a teacher, school staff or a schoolmate or classmate.
• Physical bullying, including hitting, kicking and the destruction of property;
• Psychological bullying, such as teasing, insulting and threatening; or relational, through the spreading of rumours and exclusion from a group; and
• Sexual bullying, such as making fun of a victim with sexual jokes, comments or gestures, which may be defined as sexual ‘harassment’ in some countries.
• Cyberbullying is a form of psychological or sexual bullying that takes place online. Examples of cyberbullying include posting or sending messages, pictures or videos, aimed at harassing, threatening or targeting another person via a variety of media and social media platforms. Cyberbullying may also include spreading rumours, posting false information, hurtful messages, embarrassing comments or photos, or excluding someone from online networks or other communications.

Who perpetrates school violence?

School violence is perpetrated by students, teachers and other school staff. However, available evidence shows that violence perpetrated by peers is the most common.

What are the main reasons why children are bullied?

All children can be bullied, yet evidence shows that children who are perceived to be “different” in any way are more at risk. Key factors include physical appearance, ethnic, linguistic or cultural background, gender, including not conforming to gender norms and stereotypes; social status and disability.

What are the consequences of school violence?

Educational consequences: Being bullied undermines the sense of belonging at school and affects continued engagement in education. Children who are frequently bullied are more likely to feel like an outsider at school, and more likely to want to leave school after finishing secondary education. Children who are bullied have lower academic achievements than those who are not frequently bullied.

Health consequences: Children’s mental health and well-being can be adversely impacted by bullying. Bullying is associated with higher rates of feeling lonely and suicidal, higher rates of smoking, alcohol and cannabis use and lower rates of self-reported life satisfaction and health. School violence can also cause physical injuries and harm.

What are the linkages between school violence and bullying, school-related gender-based violence and violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression?

School violence may be perpetrated as a result of gender norms and stereotypes and enforced by unequal power dynamics and is therefore referred to as school-related gender-based violence. It includes, in particular, a specific type of gender-based violence that is linked to the actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity or expression of victims, including homophobic and transphobic bullying. School-related gender-based violence is a significant part of school violence that requires specific efforts to address.

Does school-related gender-based violence refer to sexual violence against girls only?         

No. School-related gender-based violence refers to all forms of school violence that is based on or driven by gender norms and stereotypes, which also includes violence against and between boys.

Is school violence always gender-based?           

There are many factors that drive school violence. Gender is one of the significant drivers of violence but not all school violence is based on gender. Moreover, international surveys do not systematically collect data on the gendered nature of school violence, nor on violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression. 

Based on the analysis of global data, there are no major differences in the prevalence of bullying for boys and girls. However, there are some differences between boys and girls in terms of the types of bullying they experience. Boys are much more exposed to physical bullying, and to physical violence in general, than girls. Girls are slightly more exposed to psychological bullying, particularly through cyberbullying. According to the same data, sexual bullying the same proportion of boys and girls. Data coming from different countries, however, shows that girls are increasingly exposed to sexual bullying online.

How does UNESCO help prevent and address school violence and bullying?

The best available evidence shows that responses to school violence and bullying that are effective should be comprehensive and include a combination of policies and interventions. Often this comprehensive response to school violence and bullying is referred to as a whole-school approach. Based on an extensive review of existing conceptual frameworks that describe that whole-school approach, UNESCO has identified nine key components of a response that goes beyond schools and could be better described as a whole-education system or whole-education approach.  These components are the following:

• Strong political leadership and robust legal and policy framework to address school violence and bullying;
• Training and support for teachers on school violence and bullying prevention and positive classroom management
• Curriculum, learning & teaching to promote, a caring (i.e. anti- school violence and bullying) school climate and students’ social and emotional skills
• A safe psychological and physical school and classroom environment
• Reporting mechanisms for students affected by school violence and bullying, together with support and referral services
• Involvement of all stakeholders in the school community including parents
• Student empowerment and participation
• Collaboration and partnerships between the education sector and a wide range of partners (other government sectors, NGOs, academia)
• Evidence: monitoring of school violence and bullying and evaluation of responses

More on UNESCO’s work to prevent and address school violence and bullying

Read UNESCO's publication Behind the numbers: Ending school violence and bullying

Photo: Eakachai Leesin/Shutterstock.com

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School Violence - Free Essay Examples And Topic Ideas

School violence encompasses physical violence, bullying, and any other form of aggressive behavior in educational settings. Essays on school violence could explore the psychological, social, and systemic factors contributing to violent behaviors, prevention and intervention strategies, and the impacts on academic and social outcomes for students. Moreover, discussions might delve into policy implications, community involvement, and global comparisons of school violence prevention programs. We’ve gathered an extensive assortment of free essay samples on the topic of School Violence you can find at PapersOwl Website. You can use our samples for inspiration to write your own essay, research paper, or just to explore a new topic for yourself.

Growing Problem of School Violence

School Violence has been something that has changed the way we experience school. School violence has been something that's been going on for a long time. School violence has been happening around the world and has just changed the way our safety is at school. School violence is very dangerous and very deadly. In this case school violence may refer to school shootings, stabbings, bullying, sexual harassment , fights and or any harm that causes harm to anyone in the […]

Be Aware of School Violence

Violence in school is a big problem, there should be no reason our kids should be scared to come to school; according to the CDC, kids grades K-12th are constantly at risk of potential violent outbreaks from gang memberships, hazing, peer pressure, and drug usage. Cyber-bullying  has been a popular cause with the rise of technology and social platforms in the past few years; usually the culprit to the war between social acceptance. Mostly teens resort to being included in […]

Gerard Jones’ Biased Evaluation of Violence in Media

In the essay "Violent Media Is Good for Kids", Gerard Jones is arguing that violent media is more beneficial than harmful to children. In his essay, Jones explains how it is important for children to have a medium in which they can express their feelings in, instead of repressing them deep within themselves. Jones maintains that children need an outlet to release feelings that they tend to suffocate within themselves, because society has made rage and other feelings such as; […]

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Dealing with School-Based Weapon Violence

Weapon-based violence in school can be traced back to the 19th century. According to an article by Matthew Pearl, the very first school shooting occurred in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1840 when a student named Joseph Semmes shot professor John Anthony who after three days had died from his injuries. In this case, the trend shows that violence was more common because violence was what slaveholders used against their slaves. Thus from 1840 to 1966 there were only small casualties at […]

Problem of Violence in Schools

Some ways we could stop school violence. The first thing we could do is to take guns away from households that have kids at an impressionable age. Something else we could do is show young kids the effects of bullying, not just emphasize that "you will hurt other people's feelings and make them sad." While we obviously need to teach young kids how to be kind, this message needs to be modified in a way that they can understand. We […]

Tragedy and the Meaning of School Shootings

""The phenomenon referred to as ""school shootings"" pertains mainly to those shootings where the school is deliberately chosen as the site of violence, the violence is perpetrated by a current or former student, and the targets are chosen symbolically or at random with the intention of causing as many deaths as possible"" (Travers, McDonagh & Elklit, 2018). One of the most recent concerns in education today is school safety protocols to prohibit an intruder. Over the past few decades, school […]

Effects of School Shootings

School shootings has only recently become a national concern. Just in the past few years' school shootings have become almost ""normal"" and many people will agree with that statement. There are people who believe that those who commit the school shootings are actually victims themselves, and have been bullied. Others believe there is no correlation between the students who do the school shootings because they believe they grew up in a supportive family, with no significant family issues. Within this […]

Students Violence in Moroccan High Schools

Teachers’ perceptions of Students’  Violence in Moroccan High school Introduction School violence is an educational psychological issue that has seen a considerable increase over the last decade. School violence is an activity that causes a dispute in the educational setting. It encompasses verbal and physical altercation. Besides, it is bullying through electronic ways or social media, threats, weapon use, or gang activity .School Violence can be defined as a physical or verbal harm inside the school, on the way to […]

Effects of Multi Media on Violence in School

School violence on students can cause psychological and physical pain. The physical pain they get can cause them to be hospitalized. Sometimes that school violence cause students to shoot up schools. People's aggressive behavior increased watching aggressive programs on TV. Students that watch aggressive TV show start to become tougher and less emotional. TV mainly effect students because in the show they watch they become aggressive with other people. Research has also shown that the viewers who watch violent shows […]

Gun Violence and the Second Amendment

According the Cornell Law Studies Institute, the second amendment states, "A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." The Second Amendment of the constitution is one of the most misunderstood and confusing sentences in the history of America. The 27-word sentence has a partial collectivist ora while still maintaining the individualistic right to keep and bear arms. Before discussing the reasons behind […]

Issues of Violence in Schools

With an increased rate in juvenile delinquency, I chose to discuss the violence in schools; underlining the root of the issue, what policies are currently in place, and what steps are needed to create a more effective policy to resolve the issue. Some of the risk factors of school and youth violence come from prior history of violence, drug, alcohol and tobacco use, association with delinquent peers, poor family function, poor grades in school and poverty in the community.  "Data […]

Violence Caused by Media

Literature Review Violence in media such as, in television, video games, or movies has raised a substantial amount of concern regarding its effects on certain populations. Media violence portrays various graphic images and scenes that convey criminal acts or horror-like graphics such as, blood. Through studies of violence in mass media, there has been a correlation between themes of violence in media sources with real-world aggression and violence over time. Many social scientists have been able to support this correlation. […]

Gang Violence in Schools

Violence in schools, particularly gang violence, has increased in the past XX years (citation). Gang membership was once considered an issue only facing urban inner-city schools, however, gangs are now spread throughout suburban neighborhoods (Sharkey, 2011). Research has found that gang membership among students can significantly impact educational, social and emotional attainment (citation). In schools, minority children are the primary perpetrators of violence (Soriano & Soriano, 1994), including gang violence; however, this does not indicate that a student's ethnic and […]

Rise of School Shootings

School shootings have been on the rise and are more prevalent than ever before. "In less than 18 years, we have already seen more deaths related to school shootings than in the whole 20th century. One alarming trend is that the overwhelming majority of 21st-century shooters were adolescents, suggesting that it is now easier for them to access guns, and that they more frequently suffer from mental health issues or limited conflict resolution skills,". (Katsiyannis et al., 2018) This leaves […]

Reasons of Violence in Schools

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Does Multi Media have an Impact on Violence in Schools

Instagram, snapchat, facebook etc... are forms of social media, a place where young teens and children can go on to express themselves. At first, it was a positive and safe space where everybody can go onto and say/do whatever they wanted. Now problems such as cyberbullying, distraction, depression and even narcissism has arised out of technology. Social medias are a great platform to raise awareness and explore self expression but it is also a place where bullies can anonymously troll […]

Witnessing Violence in High School Predicts Student Impairment

The University of Montreal recently completed a longitudinal research study to determine if there is a correlation between witnessing school violence and future behavior impairment. They also looked at if the correlations depended on what kind of violence was observed. The researchers hypothesized that "witnessing violence will be associated with psychosocial impairment risk and will be proportional to the observed intensity." (Janosz et al., 2018) This study provided information about the outcomes of school violence which had not been looked […]

Horror of Violence in Schools

Violence in schools is really bad for students. In Central for Disease Control and Prevention it says "Acts of violence can disrupt the learning process and have a negative effect on students, the school itself, and the broader community." Even though it will be bad for the people that are doing violent things but the people around them also. So it is not good for any of us. Violence can happen in so many different ways. It can happen by […]

An Analysis of Violence in Public Schooling

The foundation of a child's life is their education and the experience they had. A child's life can be drastically altered by the events that take place during their schooling years. Many forms of violence are in public schools and are disrupting the lives of the students. With all of these incidents in the news, students are becoming desensitized to it all. From school fights, shootings, and teen suicides. Growing up and being a student is already a hard task, […]

Significance of School Uniform – why it should be Required

More often than we may know, people struggle to feel comfortable in clothing for the fear that they will be judged. That is why uniform is a perfect solution. It is a great way to avoid any issues associated with fashionable preferences among individuals. Students encounter these difficulties from when they pick out clothes to showing up at school with their choice of clothing. The use of uniforms increase the attention of students as they are not concerned with other’s […]

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Cause & Effect Essay: School Violence

School violence is a major problem around the world. The effects of school violence can lead to division and severe mental and physical trauma for both perpetrators and victims alike. The main cause of school violence is a combination of weak community relations and a lack of a firm hand within both schools and communities. To effectively deal with the issue, both of these need addressing.

The beginnings of school violence often stem from differences between teenagers. Children are natural herd creatures and will gravitate towards people who are similar in looks, mentality, and those who have the same interests. Other groups are seen as enemies, and this is where conflict begins.

A lack of education is one of the main causes of school violence. If young people aren’t taught from an early age about the consequences and wrongs of violence there’s a high chance they’ll indulge in it later. Education must occur in the home, alongside parents, and in the classroom.

Furthermore, when violence does happen, a lack of will to punish the perpetrators encourages them to participate in it again later. Teachers and law enforcement officers must stamp down on violence. It’s simple mentality. A punishment says mentally and physically violence is wrong. Allowing them to get away with it says to them they haven’t done anything wrong. This is a trend we have seen replicated in UK prisons and the high reoffending rates.

Weak community relations start school violence. Inter-racial schools where students come from different backgrounds sow the seeds of conflict. Many students haven’t come into contact with people from these backgrounds before, and this creates suspicion and wariness. It’s highly unlikely violence will occur if they have been in contact with people from these backgrounds before.

Divisive communities are more likely to suffer from violence than harmonious ones. It’s why schools in East London and international cities like Los Angeles have a reputation for violence in schools and between schools. Too often, schools act on violence within schools, but they fail to work with other schools and community representatives to tackle the problem between academic facilities.

Parental guidance in the home has a large effect on school violence. If a student’s parents are violent or prejudiced, they are likely to develop the same aggressive characteristics. Even if there’s only one person like this in a school, it can still lead to violence in the classroom.

Overall, it’s not so much the risk factors of violence which become the problem. It’s the lack of will to act on it when it does happen. It’s impossible to stamp out all types of violence. Children make mistakes and it will happen. To stop it happening again, schools and community officers must act.

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130 School Violence Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

Inside This Article

School violence is a growing concern in today's society, with incidents of bullying, fighting, and even school shootings becoming more prevalent. It is important for students, teachers, and parents to address this issue and work towards creating a safe and supportive learning environment for all. One way to raise awareness about school violence is through writing essays on the topic. To help inspire students, here are 130 school violence essay topic ideas and examples.

• The impact of school violence on students' mental health
• How social media contributes to school violence
• Strategies for preventing bullying in schools
• The role of teachers in addressing school violence
• The correlation between school violence and gun control laws
• The effects of school violence on academic performance
• How school violence can be linked to childhood trauma
• The importance of creating a positive school climate to prevent violence
• The role of parents in preventing school violence
• The impact of school violence on the community
• The connection between school violence and mental illness
• The role of school counselors in addressing school violence
• The impact of cyberbullying on school violence
• The relationship between school violence and poverty
• The role of law enforcement in preventing school violence
• The effects of school violence on victims
• The impact of school violence on teachers' job satisfaction
• The role of peer pressure in school violence
• The connection between school violence and substance abuse
• The importance of bystander intervention in preventing school violence
• The effects of school violence on the school's reputation
• The role of school administrators in addressing school violence
• The impact of school violence on students' sense of safety
• The connection between school violence and media influence
• The effects of school violence on students' self-esteem
• The role of student-led initiatives in preventing school violence
• The impact of school violence on students' relationships with peers
• The correlation between school violence and school discipline policies
• The effects of school violence on students' academic engagement
• The role of school psychologists in addressing school violence
• The connection between school violence and social exclusion
• The importance of trauma-informed care in addressing school violence
• The effects of school violence on students' sense of belonging
• The impact of school violence on students' physical health
• The correlation between school violence and academic achievement
• The role of community organizations in preventing school violence
• The effects of school violence on students' emotional well-being
• The connection between school violence and cultural factors
• The importance of restorative justice practices in addressing school violence
• The impact of school violence on students' future success
• The role of peer mentoring programs in preventing school violence
• The effects of school violence on students' social skills
• The connection between school violence and family dynamics
• The importance of mental health education in addressing school violence
• The impact of school violence on students' sense of trust
• The correlation between school violence and gender stereotypes
• The effects of school violence on students' attitudes towards authority
• The role of community partnerships in preventing school violence
• The connection between school violence and racial discrimination
• The importance of conflict resolution skills in addressing school violence
• The impact of school violence on students' sense of justice
• The role of student government in preventing school violence
• The effects of school violence on students' sense of empathy
• The connection between school violence and mental health stigma
• The importance of trauma-sensitive schools in addressing school violence
• The impact of school violence on students' sense of security
• The correlation between school violence and social media use
• The effects of school violence on students' academic motivation
• The role of school resource officers in preventing school violence
• The connection between school violence and peer relationships
• The importance of social-emotional learning in addressing school violence
• The impact of school violence on students' sense of hope
• The role of school clubs in preventing school violence
• The effects of school violence on students' sense of identity
• The connection between school violence and school culture
• The importance of trauma recovery services in addressing school violence
• The impact of school violence on students' sense of community
• The correlation between school violence and mental health services
• The role of school assemblies in preventing school violence
• The connection between school violence and school policies
• The importance of peer support groups in addressing school violence
• The impact of school violence on students' sense of purpose
• The correlation between school violence and neighborhood safety
• The effects of school violence on students' sense of empowerment
• The connection between school violence and school climate
• The importance of community engagement in addressing school violence
• The impact of school violence on students' sense of inclusion
• The correlation between school violence and school funding
• The effects of school violence on students' sense of justice
• The connection between school violence and school leadership
• The importance of peer mediation programs in addressing school violence
• The impact of school violence on students' sense of empathy
• The correlation between school violence and school security measures
• The effects of school violence on students' sense of responsibility
• The importance of community partnerships in addressing school violence

In conclusion, school violence is a serious issue that requires attention and action from all members of the community. By writing essays on this topic, students can raise awareness, spark important discussions, and contribute to the collective effort to create safe and supportive learning environments for all. With these 130 school violence essay topic ideas and examples, students have a wide range of options to choose from and explore this important issue in depth.

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How to Prevent School Violence Essay

Introduction, selected solutions to school violence.

Today no special mechanism is standard for preventing school violence due to diversity in social status, economical status, and location. Schools implement various measures to prevent violence such as warning signals, checklists and, policies for zero tolerance but the dangers still persists, because some of these measures end up exacerbating the issue.

Hypothetically, the school-based violence has a close link to poverty, which is the key factor for discontent and frustration and consequently the anger especially in developing nation. Other cases have a close link to the experiences and development. The domestic violence also has a close link to behavioural and learning problems.

During development, a child may feel the need for retaliation. Other possible sources may include discrimination, the societal background, the common school drug related problems, cultural imagery on the television and audio shows, materialism, competitiveness and lack of identity.

A good example of the school violence is the April 16, 2007 tragedy at Virginia Tech University, which remains a big sear for the hearts of those who were directly involved as well as those affected such as the victims’ families or friends. On that terrible day, the struggling loss of lives due to one disturbed young man make many people ask what made Cho to act in a beastly manner like he did, and likewise, what can be done to prevent such kind of massacre form happening again.

According to Hauser of “The New York Times” newspaper on the day of the tragedy, thirty-three people were involved in a mass murder at the university after one of the student: Cho went round the bend to a shooting rampage, in a close link to the reports made by federal law enforcement officials at the site. Many of the victims were students shot in classrooms and dorms.

In a close link to Feldman (2009), we can only stop inquiring ways of preventing such scenarios or why they occur if we realize that all the requirements for prevention are within reach. There is need for commitment over the facts and full transparency concerning logical understanding.

The universities need to be on the forefront in ensuring they are well equipped with required facilities to handle health related matters. This may include the student’s counselling centres, mental health programs or support groups, procedures for making referrals and, emergency psychiatric services to encourage students to seek and share feelings before they are out of hand.

There is an urgent need for the educators and parents to have the initiatives of pursuing this issue through a coordinated procedure. It is possible to implement the violence prevention programs based on the specific school setups through solicited funds and, the government or sponsors grants.

Secondly, it is promising to utilize the intelligent and well-planned campaigns to stop the violence issue and thus the need for proper and critical considerations over such crusades. This is an awareness program to fight violence especially among the teenagers.

Teachers need to consider the strategy of enhancing the responsibility aspects in the minds of the learners in the effort of making them understand the importance of stopping the violence at all costs. The learners should know that the act is illegal and immoral. Today the youth have tightly embraced the extremely dynamic and advancing technology.

This means that the “websites, television and radio programs, public service announcements are some vital aspects the campaigns against violence in schools ought to focus” (Prinstein and Dodge, 2008).

The government/sponsors also need to tighten use of technology as a teaching aid through ample sponsorship since the youth are today highly conversant with technology. Learning programs or curriculums should avail access to information on bullying prevention and support implementation of activities that support unity at school or community level.

Violence in schools is an act that erodes the learning atmosphere by impairing the teaching and learning processes. The act is very tactless to individual inner being or conscious and thus often lead to short-term and long-term consequences such as suicide and homicide as experienced at the Virginia Tech a couple of years back. For this reason, it is the responsibility of every person to work aggressively to reduce the wicked act.

According to Webb and Terr (2007), healthy and productive education process cannot occur in an environment full of fear. All students have a right to a safe learning environment without the worry of attendance for the fear of unfriendly treatments or worst still abusive acts.

The educators cannot fully depend on the government to solve all the cases or provide full protection. It would therefore be wise for everyone in the society to take initiative and commit to the issue. This can highly reduce or better still demise of the offense and the schools will thus be safe and enjoyable for everyone.

Feldman, R.S. (2009) Discovering the Life Span . (First Ed). Pearson/Prentice Hall Publishers.

Hauser, Christine. (2007). Virginia Tech Shooting . The New York Times. Web.

Prinstein M and Dodge K, (2008), Understanding Peer Influence in Children and Adolescents. Guilford Press publishers, P. 239.

Webb N and Terr L, (2007), Play Therapy with Children in Crisis: Individual, Group, and Family Treatment. Guilford Press publishers, P. 251.

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Bibliography

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What Do the Data Reveal About Violence in Schools?

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Sandy Hook Elementary School, and Santa Fe High School, among others, are now synonymous with a particularly insidious form of violence in our nation — mass violence and school shootings. School shootings like these heighten the perception that schools are dangerous places for youth. Although no amount of school violence is ever acceptable, nationally available data on trends in violence and victimization at school reveal that levels of overall violence declined from 1992 to 2017. [1] How do we reconcile these trends with the pervasive sense that the number of school shootings is increasing and that schools are becoming increasingly dangerous places? This article explores that paradox by reviewing the trends in school violence from the most often cited sources of school safety data. It also discusses how we can explore this paradox further through an NIJ-funded study on school shootings and a federal effort to improve federal data and its implications for school safety.

At this time, there is no single data collection that captures the complete picture of the frequency, incidence, and trends in violent crime [2] in U.S. schools. Rather, government agencies and nongovernmental organizations employ numerous data sources and surveys. Some of this information is presented in Indicators of School Crime and Safety (the Indicators report), which is published regularly by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics. The report establishes reliable indicators of the current state of school crime and safety across the nation and is helpful in tracking specific indicators over time; however, it also contains an amalgamation of information on school safety that is not easily interpreted. This is compounded by the lack of agreed-upon focus and definitions across the sources from which the Indicators report draws its data, the irregularity of the data collections, the different populations surveyed (e.g., students versus principals), and differences in how questions are phrased.

A review of the most widely used and well-known data sources reveals that incidents of multiple-victim youth homicides in schools started declining in 1994 but have been increasing since 2009. [3] Thus, the public’s perception that there is an increased likelihood of a school shooting is grounded in an increase in multiple-victim, school-associated deaths. Despite this increase, however, the rates of violent victimization and serious violent victimization at school are low and have been decreasing since the 1990s. This disconnect raises the question of whether we are collecting the right indicators for understanding trends in school violence.

To help answer this question and improve school safety data collection, NIJ funded researchers to create an open-source database for tracking shootings on K-12 school grounds. This research may help uncover why multiple-victim homicide incidents have been increasing. In addition, in 2019 the Office of Management and Budget released the Federal Data Strategy, which presents an opportunity to examine and rethink the way the federal government collects data on school safety. Both efforts have the potential to help us better understand the nature and extent of violent crime that occurs in schools — and ultimately how best to prevent future incidents.

Understanding the Scope of Violent Crime in Schools

Following is a review of data and current trends in school crime and violence. The data sets included in this review — though by no means an exhaustive list — are perhaps the most widely used and well-known national data sources for violence in schools.

School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey

The School Crime Supplement (SCS) to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) is sponsored by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the National Center for Education Statistics. It collects data on alcohol and drug availability, bullying and cyberbullying, disorder and rule enforcement, extracurricular activities, fear and avoidance behaviors, fights, gangs, graffiti, hate words, school characteristics, school security, school transportation, social bonding, and weapons in school. It is a nationally representative household survey. The respondents to the SCS are students ages 12-18 in NCVS households who are enrolled in U.S. public and private elementary, middle, and high schools. Since 1989, [4] student data reported to the SCS have been the primary source of data used to generate national estimates of criminal and bullying victimization in schools and to evaluate differences in the prevalence of victimization over time and among different student groups. [5]

According to the latest SCS data collected in 2017, being the victim of a violent crime at school is rare. About 1% of students surveyed reported experiencing a violent victimization in the six months prior to survey completion and less than 0.5% reported a serious violent victimization. [6] Serious violent victimizations include rape, sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault. Violent victimizations include all of the serious violent victimizations as well as simple assault. Between 2001 and 2017, the percentage of students who reported being victimized at school during the six months prior to survey completion decreased for both violent victimizations (from 2% to 1%) and serious violent victimizations (from 1% to less than 0.5%). [7]

Bullying is also a serious concern in schools. Bullying can be verbal (being threatened, called names, or insulted) and physical (being pushed, shoved, tripped, or spit on). Bullying may occur in various ways, including in person and virtually through social media. We know that some school shooters felt bullied, victimized, persecuted, or injured by others prior to their attacks. In some instances, the attacker experienced bullying that was long-standing and severe. [8] According to the SCS, about 5% of students surveyed in 2017 reported being subject to this physical bullying behavior. [9]

Students’ fear of being harmed has also decreased in the past few decades. [10] The SCS asks students about their perceptions of safety and fear of attack at school during the school year. Between 2001 and 2017, the percentage of students who reported being afraid of attack or harm at school decreased overall (from 6% to 4%). [11]

School Survey on Crime and Safety

The School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS) is administered by the National Center for Education Statistics and provides school-level data on crime and safety. First administered during the 1999-2000 school year, the SSOCS is a nationally representative, cross-sectional survey of approximately 4,800 public elementary and secondary schools in the United States. It is completed by school principals and other administrators, and provides information on school crime, discipline, disorder, programs, and policies. [12]

Of particular relevance to this review, the SSOCS collects and reports data on two overlapping categories of crime: violent crime and serious violent crime. Violent crime incidents can range from a threat of a physical attack to robbery or to a serious violent incident such as a physical attack, sexual assault, or rape. According to the SSOCS, a subset of violent crime incidents can be categorized as serious violent incidents. A serious violent incident may include rape, sexual assault other than rape, physical attack or fight with a weapon, a threat of physical attack with a weapon, and robbery with or without a weapon.

Although most schools report at least one incident of violent crime per year, the trends for violent crime and serious violent crime in schools have been decreasing. According to the latest available SSOCS data, 71% of schools reported at least one incident of a violent crime during the 2017-2018 school year. [13] This number seems to be decreasing — 66% of public schools recorded physical attacks or fights without a weapon in 2017-2018 compared with 71% in 2009-2010. When serious violent crime is examined as a subset of violent crime, approximately 21% of schools reported at least one serious violent incident at school in 2017-2018.

The SSOCS also asks principals about bullying. In 2009-2010, approximately 30% of schools reported incidents of bullying in the past week. However, in the 2017-2018 survey, only about 14% of schools reported incidents of bullying in the past week. [14]

School-Associated Violent Death Surveillance System

Of all violent crimes, homicides are the most well-documented. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been collecting data on school-associated violent deaths since the early 1990s.

The School-Associated Violent Death Surveillance System (SAVD-SS) — sponsored by the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice as well as the CDC — tracks lethal violence (i.e., homicides, suicides, and legal intervention deaths) on school grounds or on the way to and from school. Researchers scan open sources of data, including computerized newspapers and broadcast media databases via LexisNexis, to identify incidents of death related to schools. Their searches use keywords such as “shooting, death, violent, strangulation, beating, attack, stabbing, and died,” combined with phrases such as “primary, secondary, elementary, junior, high, middle school.”

Once lethal violent incidents (i.e., cases) are identified, researchers apply a four-step verification process that includes the schools and law enforcement agencies involved in investigating the deaths. Copies of law enforcement reports also help confirm case details and whether the case meets the inclusion criteria. The cases included are ones in which a fatality occurred:

• On a public or private primary or secondary school campus in the United States.
• While the victim was on the way to or from regular sessions at school.
• While the victim was attending or traveling to or from an official school-sponsored event.

In the SAVD-SS, victims include students, staff members, and others.

The trends from July 1994 through June 2016 indicate that on average, school-associated violent deaths accounted for less than 3% of all youth homicides in the United States consistently throughout this time frame. [15] The most recent SAVD-SS data cover the period from July 1, 2015, through June 30, 2016. During this period, there were 38 student, staff, and nonstudent school-associated violent deaths in the United States; 30 of these were homicides, seven were suicides, and one death resulted from legal intervention. During this same period, there were 1,478 youth homicides and 1,941 youth suicides in the United States.

There are differences between single-victim homicide trends and multiple-victim homicide trends. From 1994 to 2016, there were approximately 423 school-associated homicide incidents, including 393 single-victim incidents and about 30 multiple-victim incidents. [16] According to SAVD-SS data, approximately 90% of school-related youth homicide incidents involve a single victim, which is contrary to the perception that most school-related youth homicides occur in the context of a mass shooting. Among homicides with known motives, gang-related activity (58.2%) and interpersonal disputes (44%) were the most common motives for single-victim, school-related homicides, suggesting that these homicides may reflect broader communitywide causes of violence. [17] The proportion of single-victim, school-related homicides hovers around or below 2% of all youth homicides occurring from 1994 to 2016.

The SAVD-SS provides evidence of an increase in the number of multiple-victim homicides in recent years. The homicides associated with multiple-victim incidents increased from June 2009 through the 2017-2018 school year. [18] Although likely related to only eight specific incidents occurring on or after July 2016, this increase has no clear explanations.

Synthesizing the Findings

The data sources examined above indicate that students are not often the victims of violent and serious violent crime in schools. These trends have been decreasing since 2001. Physical bullying victimization has also been on a downward trend since 2009-2010. Schools have reported fewer incidents of violent crime and serious violent crime, and these too have been on a downward trend since 2009-2010. School homicides, in comparison to other youth homicides, are relatively rare, with less than 38 deaths reported from July 2015 to July 2016. These are encouraging findings in the context of understanding trends in school safety.

While these findings give us a great deal of information, there is still much more to understand about school safety. In the midst of these trends pointing to decreases in violent crime, serious violent crime, and bullying in schools, one indicator has been increasing: multiple-victim associated deaths at schools. Single-victim homicide rates have remained relatively stable over time. [19] However, multiple-victim homicide incidents are increasing, and we do not know why.

NIJ’s School Shooting Database

To help fill this knowledge gap, NIJ funded a project through its Comprehensive School Safety Initiative to create an open-source database that includes all publicly known school shootings resulting in at least one firearm death or injury that occurred on school grounds in the United States from January 1, 1990, to December 31, 2016. Joshua Freilich at John Jay College, Steven Chermak at Michigan State University, and Nadine Connell, formerly at the University of Texas at Dallas, are conducting this work. Once completed, the School Shooting Database (SSDB) will be used to document the nature of the problem and clarify the types of shooting incidents that occur in schools. It will also provide a comprehensive understanding of the individuals who commit school shootings; test causal factors to assess whether mass and non-mass school shootings are comparable; and compare fatal and nonfatal shooting incidents to identify intervention points that could be exploited to reduce the harm caused by school shootings.

The method of data collection in this project has been intensive and painstaking. First, the researchers reviewed more than 45 sources, lists, and chronologies that already tracked school violence. This allowed the researchers to create their sample frame for school shootings during the study period. They also reviewed additional listings of specific cases that the media and other accounts of particular events included or referenced. The researchers then contacted organizations that might have a relevant database for information on incidents of school shootings. Through this outreach, they cross-referenced every school shooting incident reported on any currently available database. Second, they searched specific key terms across a series of search engines and media sources to identify additional incidents. For this database, school shootings that resulted in injury (not limited to homicide) and occurred on K-12 school grounds are included. For every incident identified, the researchers then systematically searched more than 20 additional search engines simultaneously looking for relevant data on the incident, the school, the victim(s), and the person who committed the crime.

Though the SSDB is still in development, researchers to date have identified 660 incidents of school shootings that resulted in injury from 1990 to 2016. [20] Each incident is treated as a case study, and the goal is to collect all of the information available for each incident. To do this, the SSDB team uses a search protocol that includes more than 60 search engines or sites. These include media aggregators, web-based newspaper archives, legal research services, administrative sources (e.g., state Department of Corrections records, the FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System and Supplemental Homicide Reports, and local police websites), academic sources, notable incident trackers, people searches and white pages, social media, public records, and criminal and background check services. These searches lead to a trove of public information that includes published interviews (both scholarly and journalistic), obituaries, news articles, biographies, scholarly overviews, and social media. This information is then reviewed to fill in values of hundreds of attributes on the incident, school, individual committing the crime, and victim levels. The SSDB also captures the reliability of the open source information in numerous ways and has addressed both inter-searcher and inter-rater (inter-coder) reliability issues; in the future, it will empirically investigate selectivity bias. In addition, the researchers will highlight key characteristics for each incident, victim, and individual perpetrating the shooting to help law enforcement and school administrators differentiate between various kinds of school shootings and develop appropriate prevention efforts and responses for individuals and the community. This research has the real potential to help us understand why multiple-victim homicide incidents have been increasing over the last 10 years.

Improving Federal School Safety Data Collections

Recently, the Office of Management and Budget — the federal agency that implements the administration’s policy, budget, management, and regulatory objectives — released the “Federal Data Strategy – A Framework for Consistency.” [21] This Federal Data Strategy (FDS) uses and manages federal data to best serve the public while getting optimal use from the data and protecting data security and privacy. Its purpose is to guide the federal government in practicing ethical governance, conscious design, and a learning culture.

The FDS describes several principles and practices that should guide the federal government’s thinking about data. Several principles are particularly relevant to how the federal government collects, analyzes, and presents school safety data. For example, the strategy discusses the principle of conscious design, specifically that agencies should “harness existing data … to inform priority research and policy questions; reuse data if possible and acquire additional data if needed.” [22]

As discussed in the introduction of this article, there has been an effort across some federal agencies to collect in one place data that inform interested stakeholders regarding school safety: the Indicators of School Crime and Safety report. This report, which is updated regularly, establishes reliable indicators of the current state of school crime and safety across the nation. It covers topics such as victimization, teacher injury, bullying and electronic bullying, school conditions, fights, weapons, availability and student use of drugs and alcohol, student perceptions of personal safety at school, and criminal incidents at postsecondary institutions. It is not meant to be an exhaustive compilation of school crime and safety information, nor is it meant to explore the causes of crime and violence in schools.

The indicators reported are based on information drawn from various data sources, including national surveys of students, teachers, principals, and postsecondary institutions. This provides opportunities for analyzing multiple aspects of crime and victimization in schools but also presents its fair share of unique challenges that limit the report’s utility. For example, each data source used in the Indicators report has an independent sample design, time frame, data collection method, and questionnaire design — or it is the result of a universal data collection. This makes it difficult to compare indicators from one study with similar indicators from another data source. In addition, the time frame between data collections may range from every year to every five years. The Indicators report is released every year, and this time-frame issue may result in certain indicators being reported as the same year after year.

Although the Indicators report makes a valuable contribution to our overall understanding of school crime and safety, it is an aggregate of information from various school safety data sources, including some of those mentioned above. It is not a coordinated strategy across the federal government for collecting school safety data.

The FDS offers the federal government a unique opportunity to seize this moment in time and evaluate the school safety data that are being collected, how they are being used and by whom, and whether additional data are needed. In support of the FDS, agencies across the federal government can partner to develop a coordinated, thoughtful strategy for collecting school safety data that could resolve issues surrounding time frames, sample frames, comparability of results, and data analysis. The FDS also presents an opportunity for the federal government to create data thoughtfully, consider use by others, and plan for the future through data reuse. Finally, the FDS offers an opportunity for federal agencies to coordinate and share their data assets to advance progress on school safety, fulfill the need for broader federal information, and reduce data collection burdens.

Moving Forward

The review of these major data sets illuminates several interesting findings about the nature and extent of violent crime in schools. For example, physical bullying and threats to students have decreased over the last decades, and overall violent crime in schools has also decreased steadily, but there has been an increase in the number of multiple-victim homicides related to schools in recent years.

For educators, policymakers, and law enforcement officials to prevent these incidents in the future, we need to understand the factors that are contributing to this increase in multiple-victim homicides in schools. The school safety field would benefit from thoughtfully reconsidering data collections, guided by efforts such as the SSDB and the FDS. Specifically, the field should align the approaches taken to collect these important data with unanswered questions, while avoiding increased data collection burdens.

For More Information

Learn about NIJ’s Comprehensive School Safety Initiative .

Read the Indicators of School Crime and Safety report .

About This Article

This article was published in the NIJ Journal Issue Number 282.

This article discusses the following grant:

• “Understanding the Causes of School Violence Using Open Source Data,” grant number 2016-CK-BX-0013

[note 1] Lauren Musu et al., Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2018 , Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics and U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, April 2019, NCES 2019-047, NCJ 252571.

[note 2] In this article, a violent crime is one where a victim is harmed by or threatened with physical violence.

[note 3] Kristin Holland et al., “ Characteristics of School-Associated Youth Homicides – United States, 1994-2018 ,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 68 no. 3 (January 25, 2019): 53-60.

[note 4] The School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey was first administered in 1989, then again in 1995, 1999, and 2001 through 2017 biennially.

[note 5] Deborah Lessne, Christina Yanez, and Michael Sinclair, Measuring School Climate Using the 2015 School Crime Supplement , Technical Report, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, October 2018, NCES 2018-098.

[note 6] Musu et al., Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2018 .

[note 7] Musu et al., Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2018 .

[note 8] Bryan Vossekuil et al., The Final Report and Findings of the Safe School Initiative: Implications for the Prevention of School Attacks in the United States , Washington, DC: U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Department of Education, July 2004; and Randy Borum et al., “What Can Be Done About School Shootings? A Review of the Evidence,” Educational Researcher 39 no. 1 (February 2010): 27-37.

[note 9] Musu et al., Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2018 .

[note 10] Mary Poulin Carlton, Summary of School Safety Statistics , NIJ Report, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, July 2017, NCJ 250610.

[note 11] Musu et al., Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2018 .

[note 12] NIJ has supported the last two data collections by providing the National Center for Education Statistics with supplemental funds through the Comprehensive School Safety Initiative. See https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/ongoing-comprehensive-school-safety-initiative-research#two014 .

[note 13] All data in this paragraph are drawn from Melissa Diliberti et al., Crime, Violence, Discipline, and Safety in U.S. Public Schools: Findings From the School Survey on Crime and Safety: 2017-18 , Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, July 2019, NCES 2019-061.

[note 14] Diliberti et al., Crime, Violence, Discipline, and Safety in U.S. Public Schools .

[note 15] All data in this paragraph are drawn from Musu et al., Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2018 .

[note 16] All data in this paragraph are drawn from Holland et al., “ Characteristics of School-Associated Youth Homicides .”

[note 17] These percentages do not add to 100% because one homicide may have multiple motives.

[note 18] Holland et al., “ Characteristics of School-Associated Youth Homicides .”

[note 19] Holland et al. demonstrate that although the victimization rate of school-associated, multiple-victim homicides per 100,000 fluctuated from 1994 to 2018, the incidence rate during that period remained relatively stable.

[note 20] These estimates do not correspond to the SAVD-SS because the time frame of the SAVD-SS is from 1994 to 2018, while the SSDB covers 1990 to 2019. Also, the SSDB includes injuries as well as deaths.

[note 21] Office of Management and Budget, “ Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies: Federal Data Strategy – A Framework for Consistency ,” Washington, DC: Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget, June 4, 2019.

[note 22] Office of Management and Budget, “ Federal Data Strategy ,” 2.

About the author

Nadine Frederique, Ph.D., is a senior social science analyst in NIJ’s Office of Research, Evaluation, and Technology.

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Essay on violence in schools

Either school violence can be termed as a case whereby physical attack is involved between students in a school or even cases of students attacking the school staff. This has risen to be a serious problem in many countries over the recent years. These cases have left both teachers and students nervous about their safety in these schools. One of the main problems associated with school violence is that there are not enough statistics concerning the under-lying factors for school violence and their consequences to help teachers and parents to control their children.

Introduction

Not all schools are safe and many large schools face increasing insecurity because of increasing violence within their compounds. Moreover, the students in the urban schools may be faced with more of this violence due to the lower socio-economic status they live in. There is a relationship between the minor violence and the serious ones. In this case, the Indiana’s schools reduce minor incidences on day-to-day basis in fear of these erupting to serious cases. There are different ways in which school violence occur. First, there may be a case where there is conflict in a certain school and then spills-over to the neighborhood. In this case, students misunderstanding occur in the school and since there is the fear of suspension from the school if a fight erupts, some of the students may prefer to attack each other within the immediate neighborhood. In the other case, there may be a conflict within the neighborhood, which results to a fight in school since the combatants may be schooling together. School conflict may start in school and the violence occurs in the same school. In another case, these conflicts may be initiated in the neighborhood and occur there.

It is important to study the main causes of this violence. Even thought there is no main cause of school violence, and that the wide reasons are complex and varied, we have some possible causes of school violence, which include overcrowded schools, gang activity, drugs, domestic abuse, anger issues and depression among others. Other psychological reasons may involve poor self-esteem and love affairs gone sore. The conflict theory can explain some of the conflicts associated with school violence. The conflict theory put emphasis on material, political and social inequalities as the source of such violence. Students who come from poor economic backgrounds may feel inferior and in order to prove themselves to the well-endowed students may become physically violent. This may explain some of the major school violence exhibited in mixed race schools. According to a fact sheet on school violence (centers for disease control and prevention), the following facts are associated with school violence.

• Roughly, 38% of public schools accounted for at least one violent episode to the police department during recent academic years.
• About 24% of all high school students were familiar with gangs in their schools.
• 12-18 year old students were victims of about 628,200 crimes at their schools. These crimes included rape, robbery and aggravated assault.
• About 30% of school going students reports either being bullied, being a bully or the two of them.
• Bullies are more likely to drink alcohol, smoke, abuse other substances and get involved in fights according to the same statistics.
• Middle school students are twice as likely to be affected by school violence when compared to high school students.
• To avoid bullies around 7% of eighth graders do not go to school at least once a month.
• About 22% of 11 and 12-year-olds in urban settings are familiar with at least one age-mate involved in a school gang.
• In the past seven years, 116 students died in 109 separate incidents at school. This represents on average 16.5 student homicides each year.
• Almost 50% of homicide criminals gave a warning signal like making a threat and or leaving a note before the crime.
• Surprisingly most violent deaths occur during school transition times, either before and or after the school day during school breaks when there is minimal supervision.

It is likely for a student to engage in violence in cases whereby his/her parents are constantly fighting at home, or may be using abusive language. This is because the student sees this as something of the ordinary. Another factor that may encourage school violence is whereby there is easy availability of weapons. Children may purchase these weapons cheaply and use them in acts of bullying. In serious cases, students may even use these weapons to kill other people. An example of this is the Virginia Tech massacre, which involved a senior level undergraduate student who killed 32 people before committing suicide. The main cause of the student’s action was severe anxiety disorder and a major depression disorder. Depression and anxiety is therefore a contributing factor to this violence. This occurs when the student is experiencing severe depression. He/she expresses this condition through violence in form of bullying, theft or rape among others.

A student who faces lack of love and affection may also become violent. This is the case mostly with orphaned students or students living with alcoholic parents. Students may also involve in violence whereby there are no supportive teachers. This is whereby the teacher is not helping a student through difficulties, which leads to frustration. In this approach, the teacher is after making money and may see the student as a client. It is the teacher’s duty to guide the student and help to him/her. A student may also result to violence when he/she is unsure of his career or future and hence proper guidance and help is required.

We can use the theory of social disorganization to explain the above incidents. This theory emphasizes that the breakdown in the traditional social control and organizations in our societies, neighborhoods, communities and our families result in deviant behavior and criminal activities, especially in our children. When this happens then the behaviors and crimes will also be committed in schools where children spend most of their time.

School violence occurs in many ways. The level of violence has risen over the recent years. There are cases of theft and gang wars among others. This has posed severe dangers to the learning students whereby violence in schools has gone to its extremity. It is very alarming that students who have not even reached puberty are not afraid to hold guns and knives. In the United States of America, These cases are experienced. Questions are raised as to what exactly motivates these forms of actions. No child is born as violent. It is the many things that the child is exposed to that lead to his/her behavior. An example is the case whereby parents get married and then divorce. This may affect the kid and he/she may be vulnerable to violence in the future.

Some schools may also not pay attention to the violent activities that occur in the schools. Lack of penalties for such cases may further encourage these acts. Harsh punishments can be used to discourage students from practicing bullying or any other form of violence. Media also plays a huge role in promoting violent activities in the school. This is resulted from students watching violent movies, which encourage them to try to do the same. In this way, kids learn to handle things in a violent manner in which they would not have learnt otherwise. In the recent days, parents in mostly developed countries are so into their jobs and therefore do not pay much attention to their kids. As mentioned earlier, lack of love and affection encourage the child to engage in violent activities. In schools, this form of violence continues to generate more copycats who would not hesitate to go on with the violent acts. These forms of tragedy cannot be fully prevented, but there are signs that can be detected in a personality to hint on an unusual behavior in a student that may result to violence. Even if this true, these signs may not totally prove that a student is in any way dangerous.

Some of the psychological barriers standing between the ways of sanity in these students may not be fully overcome. This is because there are varying standards of behavior in the environments the students live in. It is therefore hard to approach some of the concerned parents about the behaviors of a particular student since the member of the family must be monitored closely. This helps in helping the individual psychologically.

If we study the neighborhoods the kids live in, it is a matter of considerations in the number of gangs growing up in those neighborhoods. These can be named as proto-gangs since they are not named. In some cases, these proto-gangs are engaged in drug trafficking, and therefore pose a significant threat to the young people. This is because these gangs often seek loyalty in the children living around the blocks. The recruited students end up involving themselves in drug addiction . Because of this when there are conflicts between blocks, violence may result and weapons may be used by the concerned members. Many of the students may define their friends according to the blocks they belong.

The block is therefore seen as a certain form of a family with members of different ranks in it. The members of the block serve and protect the block in all ways. This results to a considerable level of loyalty for the said block by its members. The main reason for block conflicts is that for the search for respect. These conflicts are ever changing. Some of the students also fight to achieve or maintain respect for them. This never ending rivalry between the members of these blocks gives the students, mostly the ones involved in the ‘block life’, a sense that nowhere is safe and that one needs to be on guard always. This results to the student carrying weapons always as a way to give him/her the feeling of security against the threat from the rival blocks. By showing possession of a weapon, there is the sense that one is not afraid to defend himself and hence is respected.

Strategies have been laid down to help prevent school violence. Maternal Child Health (MCH) among other public professionals helps in reducing the number of these cases by engaging in a number of activities. A staff person can be designated from the State Injury prevention program. The selected person can work with other people in the violent prevention programs and assist community public health organizations working in schools.

The MCH can also work with State and Federal departments and in this way, they can educate the school staff on the importance of reporting incidences of violence in an aim to increase incident data collection. In this way, the public health staff can assist these partners to find more ways to prevent this violence.

Educational campaigns can also be held when the public health staff collaborates with State departments. These campaigns can be used to educate the youth about the dangers of involvement in school violence. Violence can also be cut by involving the community, family and students. Preventive programs like those that bullying prevention and anger management has far better results than the electronic means like video surveillance cameras and metal detectors. This form of comprehensive prevention has been highly effective. With this method, school suspensions have dropped by 35%. Another comprehensive approach has begun to appear like the most suitable method to address complexity of emotional and behavioral problems successfully. This approach prescribes three levels of intervention.

The first level is by creating a school climate that is safe and responsive. The second one is early identification and intervention while the third involves effective responses to disruption and crisis. The first level of creating a safe and responsive climate for students involves implementing improved classroom management school wide. Early intervention and identification involves detecting early warning signs of violence within the youth assisting the students who are at risk of violence. School procedures are supposed to be aware of these signs and therefore provide procedures to respond to these threats. Finally, the effective responses to disruptions are applied in cases of these violence attacks.

The responses may involve expulsion and suspension among others. Zero tolerance may be practiced as in the case of the two students who were expelled for two years for being involved in a fight in Decatur. Zero tolerance has been encouraged and has gained popularity in many administrators. However, there is no evidence that this form of punishment yields any positive results.

In conclusion, more strategies have been laid down to help prevent the occurrence of this form of violence. Parents are also advised to be aware of their children’s activities and not to leave the whole responsibility to the teachers . It is important for the youth to understand that there are better ways to solve their differences without necessarily involving in violence.

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• Latitude: 55.79. Longitude: 38.46
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Elektrostal , Moscow Oblast, Russia