Youth Violence: A Report of the Surgeon General. Chapter 4-Risk Factors for Youth Violence. 2000. ww.surgeongeneral.gov/library/youthviolence/report.html
This Web site explains that risk factors for violence are not static. Their predictive value changes depending on when they occur in a young person's development, in what social context, and under what circumstances. Risk factors may be found in the individual, the environment, or the individual's ability to respond to the demands or requirements of the environment. Some factors come into play during childhood or even earlier, whereas others do not appear until adolescence. Some involve the family, others the neighborhood, the school, or the peer group. Some become less important as a person matures. Somewhat informative but not sure if I want to use this source.
Alexander Volokh with Lisa Snell. School Violence Prevention: Strategies to Keep Schools Safe. www.rppi.org/ps234.html. This site addresses that school violence is a serious problem, especially in public schools. Improving the quality of American education is difficult without also addressing school violence, since regardless of how good the teachers or curriculum are, violence makes it difficult for students to learn. School violence wears many faces. It includes gang activity, locker thefts, bullying and intimidation, gun use, assault—just about anything that produces a victim. Violence is perpetrated against students, teachers, and staff, and ranges from intentional vendettas to accidental killings of bystanders. Often, discussions of school violence are lumped together with discussions of school discipline generally, as both involve questions of how to maintain order in a school. This is a well informed site.
Monica Davey and Jodi Wilgoren. Signs of Danger were missed in a Troubled Teenager’s Life. 24 Mar. 2005. www.nytimes.com .Some who knew Jeff Weise say they wonder why someone did not see his eruption coming months, or even years, ago. Here was the threat Mr. Wse, 16, once made on his own life, sending him away from his home on the Red Lake Indian Reservation for psychiatric treatment. There were the pictures of bloodied bodies and guns he drew and shared freely with classmates. There was the story he apparently wrote about a shooting spree at a school in a small town. This doesn’t seem to be such an important source for a paper.
Dr. Peter. R. Breggin. Eric Harris Was Taking Luvox ( A Prozac-like drug) at the Time of the Littleton Murders. 30 Apr. 1999. www.breggin.com/luvox.html. In this site Dr. Breggin confirms that Eric Harris, was taking Luvox.
Breggin, Peter M.D. "Eric Harris was taking Luvox (a Prozac-like drug) at the time of the Littleton murders" 30 April 1999. 10 February 2000. http://www.breggin.com/luvox.html
14)) Prothow-Smith, D. and H. Spivak. "America's Tragedy." Psychiatric Times. Vol. XVI, Issue 6. June, 1999. , A survey of mounting teen violence, including a detailed discussion of several biological precursors to violent behavior patterns.
Leahy, Maureen. (2013) American Academy of Orthapaedic Surgeons. Taking Aim at Youth Gun Violence. Retrieved from http://www.aaos.org/news/aaosnow/feb13/cover2.asp
In conclusion, School Violence is a widespread issue that must be addressed. School shootings and bullying are some of the biggest issues in today’s school system. Many times the seed of the issue begins with bullying and ends with consequences like suicide and school shootings. They affect people as early as elementary school all the way to the college level, some even ending with death. Only together can we stop school violence if we take a stand and change the world.
It seems to go hand in hand that while people are being convinced that school murders are occurring more frequently, various types of school violence also seem to be rising. This is once again a myth. The United States Departments of Education and Justice distributed a survey to students both in 1989 and 1995. It was reported that the students only felt a .1% increase in the total level of victimization (Kappeler, 188). As a matter of fact, only one in ten public schools report any sort of violence at all (Kappeler, 189).
Schwartz, W. (1996, October). An overview of strategies to reduce school violence. ERIC Clearinghouse on Urban Education. Retrieved October 21, 2001.
...dolescents to weapons. In many cases children have access to a weapon, particularly a handgun, within their own home. With lack of supervision, children experiment with these dangerous weapons, and may even take them out of their homes. Another contributing factor to violent acts among children is the role of the media and the way that television and movies portray violence. Every where you turn on television and in movies, you see someone killing someone or someone getting killed. Kids see the brutal ways, or the quick and smart schemes of combat tactics. They falsely believe that these types of behaviors are acceptable, because the next week they are back on the show demonstrating another episode of violent acts, with no consequences.
Welsh, Wayne N. "United States." Teen Violence: A Global View. Eds. Allan M. Hoffman and Randal W. Summers. Westport, CT: Greenwood P, 2001.
Perpetrator was a 15 year-old student at Thurston High School at the time of both events. In the hours leading up to the shootings, he believed that his parents were extremely embarrassed and disappointed in him after he was caught with a gun at school and thus felt as though he had to kill them ("Who is Kinkel: Chronology", 1998; Blanco, 2014). Though he did not display any thought psychosis or disorder, he did suffer from anxiety as a child and was diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder in January of 1997, just a year prior to the shooting ("Who is Kinkel: Chronology", 1998). In the years leading up to the shooting, he developed an interest in homemade bombs and guns. In fact, he even gave a talk on “how to make a bomb” in his speech class, which included detailed drawings and descriptions of explosives ("Who is Kinkel: Chronology", 1998). Additionally, beginning in the eight grade, the perpetrator began compiling a secret gun collection ("Who is Kinkel: Chronology", 1998). On the day he killed his parents, he believed that he was going to be sent to military school and appears to have targeted his parents because he believed that they would never be able to live with themselves if he were to have been convicted of the two felonies brought against him (Blanco, 2014). On the following day, in which he targeted his school, he seems to have shot indiscriminately and at random with no specific targets in mind ("Who is Kinkel: Chronology", 1998). Altogether, he shot and killed two students and wounded 25 others ("Who is Kinkel: Chronology", 1998). Eventually he was subdued by seven of his classmates and arrested by police (Blanco, 2014). Definitive warning behaviors consistent with pathways, fixation, identification, novel aggress...
Over the past half century, violence in the United States has increased dramatically. Children who were raised in a tough, low-income neighborhood often fail to escape exposure to violence. They may witness homicides, assaults, and some may even have had a friend who had been killed. According to recent research, these children have higher violence rates than those kids who grew up in a non-violent neighborhood.
It is necessary for the schools in the United States to take more action in order to keep the students safe during the day. It is obvious that schools are not safe, forcing everyone to take a part in stopping the violent behavior which takes place in schools on a daily basis. There are many warning signs and ways to prevent this violence from taking place, it is just a matter of using money more wisely and creating more programs for preventing violence before it erupts in schools. There is no excuse for students to feel unsafe in an environment which the government forces them to be in. It is necessary that more action take place and that more training take place in order for schools to be safer, and in the event where violence does occur, the staff of the school is equipped to stop it before it gets out of hand. There is no time like now to keep the children and our schools safe from predators and especially from school violence.
Pirruzia, T (2011).Review of the Roots of Youth Violence: Literature Reviews. (n.d.). Chapter 1: Biosocial Theory. Retrieved May 1, 2014, from http://www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/English/topics/youthandthelaw/roots/volume5/chapter01_biosocial_theory.aspx
The issue of school safety has become a controversial topic in the United States, due to tragic acts of violence occurring on a daily basis. American citizens should never have to cope with the negative impact of school violence, no matter how often they hear about the tragedies (Jones, "Parents" 1). In the past, schools were viewed as a safe place for children to get an education. Recently, the concern over violence in schools has taken a toll on many parents, school administrators, and legislatures (Eckland 1). Studies have shown that there are over 3 million acts of violence in American public schools each year. Not all occurrences are serious and deadly, but they occur on a daily basis throughout our country (Jones, “School” 6). This has caused many parents to worry about the well-being of their children while they are in class. This has also led to an increase in questions and concerns by parents and guardians. Many people have asked, “What are you doing about safety and security on my child’s campus” (Schimke 2). School violence is the cause of elevated worry and fear for their children, and school districts should enforce better security.
Society has suffered from various factors that are contributors of school violence. These factors are personal, family, school, and environmental.
School shootings are becoming common place in the news as school violence is on the rise. Statistics state that 31.2 percent of parents said the leading cause for choosing homeschool over public school is “concern about the environment of other schools” (Burke, 2014). According to the CDC fact sheet Understanding School Violence, 12 percent of youth in grades 9-12 report being in a physical fight on school property while 5.9 percent reported that they felt unsafe at school and did not attend. Seven percent of teachers also report that they have been threatened or injured by a student (School Violence, 2013). While only 1 percent of all youth homicides occur at schools, violence does not need to result in a fatality in order to be a concern.