The Incidence of Violence in United States Schools - Research Paper Example

? School violence: A Criminology Research Paper School violence: A Criminology Research Paper School violence is a problem of concern to stakeholders worldwide, and many resources have been invested in prevention and control of school violence. Verbal and other mild forms of violence are a common phenomenon, but the more serious violence involving physical abuse and weapons is becoming more widespread. Many scholars blame the media for promoting violent behavior while others blame it on poor parenting. Whatever the case, the problem is getting out of hand, and unless a solution is found soon, then the young generation will suffer the effects of juvenile delinquency. There are many effects of school violence on individuals including psychological, physical, mental and sociological; all of these have negative effects on the performance of students in school. This research paper uses sociological theories to discuss the incidence of violence in United States’ schools; forms of violence; causes and predisposing factors; and intervention measures in relation to existing legislation. Statement of the Problem There are many factors leading to violence in schools; most of which are the effects of environmental factors on the characters and behaviors of students including social, economic, cultural, and other aspects of the society in which these students live. In addition to these societal factors, individual factors including body size, age, gender and race play a central role in determining if students perpetrate violence against others or become victims of the same (Wallace et al., 2008). High dropout rates, poor grades, and physical harm are few of the effects of these violent activities perpetrated by students. In spite of limiting legislation and school policies, the rate of violence has been on an increasing trend, and stakeholders must identify the cause of these trends instead of dealing with the symptoms of juvenile crime. Incidence A study by Eaton et al. (2007) showed that 5.9 percent of students carried weapons including guns and knives 30 days before the survey, the incidents were 3 times as much in male students as in female students. The authors also established that 7.8 percent of students had been threatened or injured by a weapon in the period of 12 months prior to study; in this case, the prevalence in male students was twice as much as that in female students. In the 12 months prior to the study, 12.4 percent of students had been involved in physical fights at least once, with the rate in male students being twice as much as it was in female students. In 30 days before the study, 5.5 percent of students had been absent from school at least once due to a feeling that the school environment was not safe; both male and female students had equal numbers in this case. According to the differential association theory, boys interact with other boys and end up picking the attitudes and techniques that motivate them to participate in violent activities more than their female counterparts. Moreover, violence in schools is not just perpetrated on students, between 7 percent and 10 percent of teachers had been threatened of injury by students at least once in 2003 (Peek-Asa et al., 2007). Five percent of teachers were physically attacked by students in 2003, and other non-teaching staff were victims too, especially school bus drivers. According to the social disorganization theory, cases of school violence recorded occurred mostly in urban schools, with rural and suburban schools accounting fewer cases. This means that by virtue of living in urban areas and being exposed to violence in day-to-day activities and the media, students in urban areas pick up these habits and transfer them to the school environment. Forms of School Violence Mostly, school violence involves verbal threats and abuses focusing on the victims’ real or perceived weaknesses. Verbal fight does not cause physical harm, but the psychological trauma that results may cause a student to get poor grades, drop out of school, or commit suicide in the extremes. Verbal fights are usually more dangerous than physical fights, as the former are not easily detected and a student can suffer low self-esteem and other negative effects without the knowledge of teachers or parents. Another form of violence in schools is cold fights whereby students are ignored by their fellows, and one stays alone as nobody wants to associate (Yu, 2004). These fights, like verbal fights, cause psychological trauma and are the predecessors of physical fights and other delinquent behavior. The worst form of school violence is when weapons are used against the victim, including knives and guns; existing violent in the form of crime is assumed to be the predecessor of these criminal activities by students. Other forms of violence common in schools include drug abuse and peddling, bullying, harassment, assaulting and vandalism. Predisposing Factors Socioeconomic Factors Children from poor backgrounds suffer from an inferiority complex, and if they have a larger physic than their victim does, they tend to be aggressive in order to show their opponents their worth. In addition, poor backgrounds make students adopt drug dealing to improve their economic status, and according to the social disorganization theory, differences in social status based on economic ability causes students to turn to violent activities. Interaction between students of the same social class causes them to adopt delinquent behaviors as explained by the differential association theory (Due, Merlo, Harel-Fisch, Damsgaard, Holstein, Hetland, Currie … and Lynch, 2009). On the other hand, students from rich backgrounds have a superiority complex, and due to the lax rules in their schools, these students engage in unruly behaviors for fun. Gender As discussed in the incidence section above, gender plays a central role in determining if a student is a victim or becomes the culprit in school violence. Both male and female students participate in school violence as victims, culprits or accomplices; however, the level has been observed to be higher in male students as compared to their female counterparts. Body Size Students with a bigger physique have a higher tendency to participate in violent crime; the situation is worse if the class performance of such individuals is poor. Smaller and smarter students fall victim to their bigger counterparts who make the former believe that they are the cause of the academic woes of the latter. Family Background Some students come from backgrounds with drug abuse, violence, bullying and excessive control from parents, and according to the social control theory, students adopt violent behaviors as a way of satisfying the needs that are not satisfied at home. For instance, if a parent does not make a student feel loved enough, the students may vent these frustrations on other students, or interact with peers in a destructive way to achieve a sense of belonging (Mulvey and Cauffman, 2003). Members of gangs support each other morally and materially, and the student gets the factors that are not available at home from peers who encouraged destructive behaviors. The strain theory explains that if students experience hardships at home, then they may transfer their pain on others or adopt destructive behavior in an attempt to relieve their frustrations. Other Factors The media give sensational coverage to extreme cases of school violence, which may motivate students to participate in crime. Moreover, the media these days is full of reports of violence, and many interactive activities for youths like video games are violent oriented. This means that the virtual environment promotes school violence as students practice what they see in the media, which may be consciously or unconsciously (Ferguson, 2008). Intervention Measures Interventions have been said to worsen cases of school violence, especially since putting delinquent youth under the same care gives them an opportunity to share their activities with peers, which has a reinforcing effect. Therefore, intervention strategies should be designed in such a way that they curb the underlying condition and not just dealing with the symptoms. Some of intervention measures include education, legislation, substance abuse education and treatment, counseling, mentoring and parenting education among others (Schuster, 2004). Education Schools have social studies incorporated in syllabi whereby young people are taught how to take care of themselves, which ensures that youths stay in a healthy state of mind, body and spirituality. Moreover, students learn social and interpersonal skills that enable them to interact productively with other members of the society without giving in to peer-pressure. They learn the rules and principles of living justly, by treating others as one would want to be treated. This enables the young people to keep away from violence and other antisocial activities (Srabstein, Berkman, and Pyntikova, 2008). Legislation and Policies Most states have legislation that enable the establishment of programs which main aim is to reduce the extent of violence in school. However, the success legislation and policies depend on the ability of stakeholders to ensure that students are not forced into violent activities as postulated in the social control theory. This is because legislation aims at achieving objectives by exercising direct or indirect control on students, or by making them feel guilty at the thought of breaking moral laws, or by denying them the fulfillment of their desires to force them into adopting desirable behavior. For instance, the state of Colorado launched Safe2Tell to enable students to dial a free number and report cases of violence in schools. Many schools have come up with policies that aim at making the environments within them conducive to learning but deterrent to violent activities. For instance, cases of delinquency are punished severely while cases of high degree self-discipline are rewarded to encourage students to keep off violence and other antisocial activities (Srabstein, Berkman, and Pyntikova, 2008). Substance Abuse Education and Treatment Many cases of school violence are brought about by the influence of drug abuse and peddling; therefore, this cause should be tackled directly. Students are usually at a developmental stage where they experiment and venture into various activities as they get away from the control of parents and have some freedom of choice. Through no fault of theirs, some students experiment with drugs and end up becoming addicted. Therefore, they should be educated on the ill effects of drug abuse, and if they do not manage to keep away from drugs, they should be treated and helped through the withdrawal period. All these activities require the person implementing the interventions to treat the student as a victim of drug abuse and not as a culprit, which includes taking a nonjudgmental stance as it is difficult to determine the reasons behind drug abuse cases. Family Counseling Sometimes, family is the cause of delinquent behaviors among young people, and this unit of community cannot be ignored when implementing interventions for school violence. If the family is suspected to be the cause of criminal behavior in students, then dealing with the student alone may not be enough as the student has to go back to the same family environment. The whole family, or at least the most critical components of it should be counseled, and members taught how to create an environment that fosters exemplary behavior among students. Youth Mentoring Young people need a role model they can look up to, and many schools and communities have come up with mentorship programs that enable students to model the behavior of their mentors by studying them closely. These programs are beneficial as students are encouraged to adopt behaviors that their mentors have in order to keep them away from antisocial behavior (Durlak et al., 2011). Parenting education Parents have been accused of lacking parenting skills that encourage positive behavior among students. Though this may not be the case for most parents, and since preventing is better than curing, many parents have gotten into programs that give them the skills needed to encourage youths to have positive characteristics. Conclusion Children are not predisposed to have violent behavior in school, and their school, family, community or social environment is responsible for cases of violence in school. If individuals, institutions and states work together to change this environment, there is a high likelihood of reversing the high incidence of violence by students against other students, teachers and school employees. Various sociological theories should be considered when analyzing and coming up with interventions for school violence. References Due, P., Merlo, J., Harel-Fisch, Y., Damsgaard, M. T., Holstein, B. E., Hetland, J., Currie, C. … & Lynch, J. (2009). Socioeconomic inequality in exposure to bullying during adolescence: A comparative, cross-sectional, multilevel study in 35 countries. American Journal of Public Health, 99(5), 907-914. Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. P., Taylor, R. D., & Schellinger, K. B. (2011). The impact of enhancing students’ social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions. Child Development, 82(1), 405–432. Eaton, D. 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