NCJ Number
153409
Journal
Public Interest Issue: 116 Dated: (Summer 1994) Pages: 34-56
Date Published
1994
Length
23 pages
Annotation
Questions surrounding what causes school violence and how it can be controlled are difficult to answer, but studies show that political differences exist in that more frequent disciplinary measures are taken against black than against white students.
Abstract
Racial disproportion in suspensions characterizes secondary schools throughout the United States. Further, students who are expelled frequently return to school and take their revenge out on the school. Accordingly, what may be necessary to eliminate violence is to make schools more responsive to the needs of children by dealing with the problems of students rather than by expelling them from school. Schools may actually contribute to violence, not by treating students too harshly in general but by treating the small number of violence-prone students too leniently. Nonetheless, schools are responsible for creating a safe educational environment, and parents of victimized children have brought lawsuits against school districts. One survey of teachers, students, and principals found that 42 percent of teachers and 34 percent of students identified discipline and supervision as important areas; only 15 percent of principals thought that disciplinary measures would make schools safer. In general, controlling school violence involves public policy issues related to educational opportunity, crime control, and racial integration in public schools. The efficacy of individual strategies versus public policies in controlling school violence is discussed, and arguments for and against making high school education voluntary are examined.