Crime in High Schools

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Problem overview
Common features
Level of crime
Conclusion
References

Introduction

School violence is on the toll in the United States with children being the most frequent victims than any other age group in America. The very concept of school violence is multidimensional and includes violence victimization, antisocial behavior, criminal behavior, perpetration of violence, and other aspects.

Multiple procedures are used to determine the reasons for school violence and accurately assess current and expected crime rates. While statistics are usually provided by official federal agencies, student self-reports are the primary source of statistical data. Student self-reports are then checked on validity and reliability. It has been determined that reported incidence of school violence are much higher among students that fail to pass reliability tests. For instance, the frequency of school fighting was 19.2% percent among students that pass the reliability tests with school frequency rising to 58.6% among those who fail to pass the tests. The statistics suggest that the present rate of school violence is, in fact, lower than the one estimated by the general studies.

Problem overview

Overall, youth violence in the United States has been steadily increasing for the past fifteen years with homicide being the second leading cause of death among youth ages 15 – 24 and African Americans being the most vulnerable group. The rate of annual arrests for weapons carrying among youth has increased by 104%. Despite the general increase in crime rates among youth, little violence reported for children occurs within the boundaries of schools. It has been estimated that the school homicide rate is approximately one in a million, whereas chances of violent death among juveniles are as much as 40 times as higher as in schools. Within 1 year, from 1999 to 2000, there have been 32 school-associated violent deaths with 24 being homicides and 8 being suicides. The total number of homicides within this year accounts for less than 1% of the total number of homicide victims among children ages 5 – 19. The total number of suicides within the boundaries of school is also below 1% when compared against the total out-of-school number of suicides among youths.

Acts of school violence are not distributed equally in the community; in fact, school violence occurs mostly in urban schools. It has been determined, that rates of violence in schools tend to mirror those within a community; consequently, school violence is likely to occur in inner cities rather than rural areas. Among the schools that tend to have severe discipline issues, as much as 28% report a minimum of at least one crime; in contrast, only 3% of schools with minor discipline issues report the presence of crimes.

Common features

Children that initiate school violence share the following common features: antisocial personality disorders, uncontrollable temper, either low self-esteem or narcissism, fascination with fire, violence and deaths, self-harming behaviors, paranoid ideation, oftentimes caused by exposure to violent behavior in the family, in films and video; they are neglected, abused, rejected by the community. It should be noted, that children are a product of the community they live in; therefore, external factors, such as family, school, and friends are what influence their behaviors directly. Bullying, teasing, and intolerance are the most critical factors that contribute to school violence when it comes to peer-to-peer relations.

Recent studies give particular attention to child exposure to violence as the determining factor that makes students commit violent acts. These studies are based on assumption that violent behavior is learned. Parental conflicts, neglect, and inconsistent supervision combined with no reinforcement of pro-social behaviors oftentimes lead to child aggression. As much as 75% of mothers who experienced domestic violence report that their children witnessed it. There is also a positive correlation between child exposure to violence through video games and movies and child aggression.

Level of crime

The rate of crime in schools also depends on how well a given school can manage crime, policies that the school has, reporting systems, and training. Normally, the safety of schools is assessed based on the following criteria: crisis preparedness, security staffing and procedures, access, inventory and key control, intrusion detection, physical design, security education and training, personal and internal security, community collaboration, and reporting systems. Even though these systems do not affect the rates of crime in high schools, they do decrease the severity of traumas ensuring prompt reaction in emergencies.

Conclusion

Even though the level of crime is not increasing in the United States, several actions that combat factors that influence it should still be undertaken. These actions include integration of safety systems in schools, child reporting systems, conflict resolution and peer mediation programs, emergency systems. Crime in High Schools mirrors what is going on in the community; violence combating should start from the analysis of the external environment children live in and taking corrective actions, when appropriate.

References

Chapell, Mark S., et al. “Bullying in Elementary School, High School and College.” Adolescence 41.164 (2006): 633.

Condon, Christopher D. “Falling Crime Rates, Rising Caseload Numbers: Using Police-Probation Partnerships.” Corrections Today. 2003: 44.

Furlong, Michael, and Gale Morrison. “The School in School Violence: Definitions and Facts.” Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders 8.2 (2000): 71.

Lafree, Gary. “DECLINING VIOLENT CRIME RATES IN THE 1990S: Predicting Crime Booms and Busts.” Annual Review of Sociology (1999): 145.

Stephens, Gene. “Global Trends in Crime: Crime Varies Greatly around the World, Statistics Show, but New Tactics Have Proved Effective in the United States. to Keep Crime in Check in the Twenty-First Century, We’ll All Need to Get Smarter, Not Just Tougher.” The Futurist 2003: 40.

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Crime in High Schools

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