Columbine High School
...s and for some reason it is not always working. One way to prove that it is a concern to them is because of all the statistics that have been taken. Also because everyday there are people thinking of new ways to prevent school violence to never happen again. The total number of crimes committed per year in or near the 85,000 U.S. public schools has estimated at around 3 million. (Volokh) The most frequently reported form of school violence was assault occurring in 78% of the school districts that responded. (Overview) Some other percentages of the different areas of violence are: students bringing weapons to school, shootings or knifings, drive-by shootings, and on campus rapes. (Overview) Studies have shown that an estimated 1,000,000 children between sixth and twelfth grade have carried guns to school at some point during the school year. (Corradini) In a study of violent deaths in school and the 1999 School Crime Supplement to the bureau’s National Crime Victimization Survey breaks down the numbers of crime into a few groups. There were 235,000 serious violent crimes at school, including rape, sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault. Wearing school uniforms is one way that has been tried and has been fairly affective on increasing safety and reducing violence within school systems. Professor Daniel Monti (1996) points out, “If gangs are not going away and tolerating their activities it is not a viable option, then we will have to find ways to limit the impact they have on us.” We must “get tough on young offenders.” “Uniformity tends to bolster safety because it makes it easier to spot people who may not belong on campus.” (Portner) Being able to identify those who don’t belong helps prevent violence and definitely promotes safety. Some students view school as an arena within which to display the latest fashion, and students have been killed or badly injured by other students who want what they are wearing. Getting killed over what is worn to school is outrageous. Schools are supposed to be a safe haven in which children are to learn. If uniforms are implemented into school systems, killing over clothing will cease because everyone will be wearing the same clothing; therefore, reducing the overall rate of school violence. It is important that schools do not deal with threats by just kicking them out the door. Disciplinary action alone may actually get rid of the danger. Some schools think that bringing in a “threat assessment coordinator” would be helpful in responding to any threats that may occur.(Johnson) Maybe if students knew what the consequence of their actions were they might not be as likely to commit the crime. One way to help school violence decrease is to stop it before it starts. There are some things that a person can notice. A person who usually perpetrates the ...