Violence In School Essay Research Paper httpncesedgovpubs98violence98030001htmlViolence — страница 2

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victim could be involved in multiple incidents. Key Findings How Serious A Problem Was Crime And Violence In U.S. Public Schools In The 1996-1997 School Year? More than half of U.S. public schools reported experiencing at least one crime incident in school year 1996-97, and 1 in 10 schools reported at least one serious violent crime during that school year (table 7). ? ? Fifty-seven percent of public elementary and secondary school principals reported that one or more incidents of crime/violence that were reported to the police or other law enforcement officials had occurred in their school during the 1996-97 school year. ? Ten percent of all public schools experienced one or more serious violent crimes (defined as murder, rape or other type of sexual battery, suicide, physical

attack or fight with a weapon, or robbery) that were reported to police or other law enforcement officials during the 1996-97 school year. ? Physical attacks or fights without a weapon led the list of reported crimes in public schools with about 190,000 such incidents reported for 1996-97 (figure 1). About 116,000 incidents of theft or larceny were reported along with 98,000 incidents of vandalism. These less serious or nonviolent crimes were more common than serious violent crimes, with schools reporting about 4,000 incidents of rape or other type of sexual battery, 7,000 robberies, and 11,000 incidents of physical attacks or fights in which weapons were used. ? While 43 percent of public schools reported no incidents of crime in 1996-97, 37 percent reported from one to five

crimes and about 20 percent reported six crimes or more (figure 3). What Types Of Schools Were Likely To Have More Serious Problems With Crime And Violence? Crime and violence were more of a problem in middle and high schools than in elementary schools. Middle schools and high schools were more likely to report that they had experienced one or more incidents of any crime and one or more incidents of serious violent crime than elementary schools (table 7). ? ? Forty-five percent of elementary schools reported one or more violent incidents compared with 74 percent of middle and 77 percent of high schools. ? Four percent of elementary schools reported one or more serious violent crimes compared with 19 percent of middle and 21 percent of high schools. ? Of the less serious or

nonviolent crimes, the largest ratios of crimes per 100,000 students were found in middle and high schools compared with elementary schools. This was true for physical attacks or fights without a weapon, theft/larceny, and vandalism (table 10). ? In general, elementary schools reported proportionately fewer incidents of serious violent crime. They reported lower rates of physical attacks or fights with a weapon and rape or other type of sexual battery when compared with middle schools and high schools. However, while elementary schools reported lower ratios of robbery compared with high schools, they were not significantly different from middle schools. Schools that reported serious discipline problems were more likely to have experienced one or more incidents of crime or

violence, and were more likely to experience serious violent crime than those with less serious discipline problems (table 7). ? ? Sixteen percent of public school principals considered at least one serious discipline problem (out of 17 discipline issues that they were asked about) to be a serious problem in their schools in 1996-97 (table 12). The remaining schools were about equally divided between those that had minor or no discipline problems on all 17 issues (43 percent) and those that reported a moderate (but no serious) problem on at least 1 of the issues (41 percent). ? Principals in public high schools and middle schools were more likely than public elementary school principals to rate at least one discipline issue as a serious problem in their schools. Thirty-seven

percent of high school principals reported at least one serious discipline problem in their schools compared with 18 percent of middle school principals and 8 percent of elementary school principals (table 12). ? In both 1990-91 and 1996-97, the three discipline issues most frequently rated as serious or moderate problems by principals were student tardiness, student absenteeism or class cutting, and physical conflicts among students (table 13). What Measures Are Schools Taking To Deal With Problems Of Crime And Violences? Most public schools reported having zero tolerance policies towards serious student offenses (table 19). ? Principals were asked about whether the school had “zero-tolerance” policies, defined as school or district policy mandating predetermined