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May 3,
1999: April
22, 1999: April 22, 1999: April 22, 1999: April
21, 1999: October 15,
1998: March 26,1998: Online NewsHour coverage of youth, the law and education.
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The school shootings in Littleton, Colorado raise a vital question about safety, youth violence and personal responsibility: How has something like this happened -- again?
The president applauded TC Williams' strong peer mediation program and a confidential telephone hotline. He said that schools need organized ways for students to express their concerns. Ideas like these were outlined in The Early Warning, Timely Response: A Guide to Safe Schools that the U.S. departments of Education and Justice sent to schools across the country last summer.
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The Early Warning, Timely Response: A Guide to Safe Schools outlines ways to identify risks of violence. Click here to send in your story and we'll post it. Read what other students and parents are saying.
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COMMUNITIES FIGHTING VIOLENCE While there are can be no guarantees, many cities around the country are turning to community programs to make hallways and playing fields safe. The residents of New Haven, Connecticut have come up with a plan that is successfully lowering the levels of violence. How does it work? First, police officers are assigned to neighborhoods, not just for a month or two, but long-term. That way, officers get to know the neighborhood, its problems, and its people, and the residents get to know the police. Police are also assigned to schools. Five schools have a police man or woman who spends the whole day there, knows the students and can respond if there are any signs of violence. The police also work with psychologists at the local university, Yale. Doctors and psychiatric social workers are on call 24 hours a day. They are summoned to the scene of a crime to help children deal with the violence. Research shows that young people are more likely to accept violence and act violently if they witness it in a very firsthand way, like when family members commit the violence, or are victims of violence. Finally, there are mentoring and after-school programs for kids who show signs of violence. |
This story was a report on the NewsHour...
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LEADING KIDS AWAY FROM VIOLENCE One such kid is Tommy, a 10-year old who arrived at school last year with a large knife. He planned to use it to kill a first and a second grader who had jumped his little brother. He was arrested and placed in an afternoon program that helps him deal with his violent emotions. Studies show that kids like Tommy who attend the program are less likely to commit more crimes than children who are sentenced to probation without an intervention program. KEEPING CHILDREN SAFE And over the last four years, the community has seen a decrease in children's anxieties. Children feel more secure at home, at school and in their communities. As a result, fewer children being hurt, and fewer knives are being carried to school. Overall crime statistics show that since 1991, violent crime in New Haven is down 35 percent, while nationwide it was down about 8 percent. There have also been fewer juvenile arrests for murder and juvenile auto theft is down 67 percent. Eight other cities are planning to start programs based on the New Haven program.
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Copyright © 1999 MacNeil-Lehrer Productions. All Rights Reserved.
In
a discussion about school violence at TC Williams High School in Alexandria,
VA, President Clinton said that nobody believes something like what
happened in Littleton could happen in their school. But tragically,
it can. 
What
do you think can be done to prevent these tragedies? Is there a place
for students to talk about their anger or their fears in your school?
