Despite OH Deaths, School Homicides In 2009-10 Lowest Since 1992

Despite yesterday's death of a Chardon, Oh., high school student in a shooting by another student, in the 13 years since Colorado's Columbine massacre pushed school shootings to the front of media headlines and many parents’ concerns, the trends are improving in terms of student-initiated shootings, says the Christian Science Monitor. One possible reason: heightened awareness of the problem on the part of parents, teachers, and fellow students, who may be more willing to act on early warning signs.

“After the mid-90s when this became a major issue, I think now people have seen what can happen when you don’t report things and aren’t coming forward, and there’s a lot more awareness,” says Kevin Quinn of the National Association of School Resource Officers. “I don’t think kids are as apt to keep things quiet anymore.” This month, the federal government released an Indicators of School Crime and Safety report, which puts school-related violent deaths at an all-time low since it began tracking such deaths in 1992. It reported 33 such deaths for the 2009-10 school year, including 25 homicides – also the lowest since 1992 (tied with the 2002-03 school year). The 2006-07 school year had the highest number of deaths, with 63.

In Rare Incident, Girl, 8, Is Shot In WA Classroom; Boy Suspected

A girl, 8, was shot and critically wounded yesterday in a third-grade classroom in Bremerton, Wa., says the Seattle Times. Bremerton police believe the...

Schools Crack Down on Violations

Thousands of school kids have been suspended or expelled across Massachusetts — especially in suburban districts — as superintendents and principals get tough on everything from bullying to drug dealing, reports the Boston Herald. “We’re all just in a time where there’s more accountability,” said David Fleishman, who has been superintendent for a year in Newton, which saw a 36 percent increase in incidents prior to his arrival. “We’re reporting everything more.”

Among the incidents reported by school officials involving students are: smoking, drug possession and sales, fighting, sexual harassment, stealing, making threats, carrying knives and less serious offenses, such as skipping school and acting up in class. A review of Department of Education data at 28 urban and suburban school districts between 2007 and 2010 shows huge increases in the suburbs and decreases in big cities in reported incidents. In South Hadley, there was a 17 percent increase — from 230 reported incidents in 2008 to 268 in 2010, the year 15-year-old freshman Phoebe Prince killed herself after being bullied.  In Milton, reported incidents increased 46 percent, and in Marshfield, reported incidents increased 78 percent.

Did Lessons of Columbine Help Thwart Tampa School Bomb Plot?

The lessons of the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in Colorado may have helped prevent violence in Tampa this week, says the Christian Science Monitor...

Violence Stifles Learning, Causes Trauma In Philly Schools

In the first of a seven-part series on violence in the Philadelphia schools that took five reporters a year to report, the Philadelphia Inquirer says there...

2011 Harry F. Guggenheim Symposium on Crime in America

Twenty-six journalists from across the nation gathered at John Jay College of Criminal Justice on Jan. 31st and Feb 1st, 2011 for the 6th Annual Harry Frank Guggenheim Symposium on Crime in America to discuss the conference theme: “Law & Disorder: Facing the Legal and Economic Challenges to American Criminal Justice.”

The journalists were joined by criminal justice professionals and speakers including New York State Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, Hon. Sue Bell Cobb, Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court; Hon. Andre Davis, United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit; and Hon. Robert T. Russell, Associate Judge for Buffalo City Court and a pioneer of the nation’s Veterans Courts. They were joined by ACLU president Susan Herman;  John T. Chisholm, District Attorney, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin; Daniel F. Conley, District Attorney, Suffolk County, Massachusetts; and George Gascon, newly appointed DA in San Francisco and the city’s former Police Chief.

Panels included:THE COURTS, PUBLIC SAFETY AND CIVIL LIBERTIES: CHALLENGES IN 2011, THE COURTS ON TRIAL: IS THE SYSTEM FAILING US?,TECHNO-CRIME FIGHTING: LAW ENFORCEMENT, CIVIL LIBERTIES, PUBLIC SAFETY AND THE WEB.

See the symposium agenda here.

Fellows ask colleagues follow-up questions in a closed forum.

Restorative Justice in Schools

Researchers from  UC Berkeley School of Law’s Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice spent one year observing a restorative justice program at the Cole Middle School in West Oakland. In the report, School-Based Restorative Justice as an Alternative to Zero-Tolerance Policies, they found that suspensions dropped by 87 percent and expulsions dropped to zero, a dramatic change from previous years.

Read the study here.

Use the Crime Report for more on School Violence.

Does 'Battle Zone' School Security Teach Kids the Wrong Lessons?

Salon interviews Aaron Kupchik, whose book "Homeroom Security: School Discipline in an Age of Fear" is described as "an attempt to explain that paradox and suggest an alternative to this battle-zone mentality." The book examines four public high schools. Kupchik says, "We're teaching kids what it means to be a citizen in our country. And what I fear we're doing is teaching them that what it means to be an American is that you accept authority without question and that you have absolutely no rights to question punishment. It's very Big Brother-ish in a way. Kids are being taught that you should expect to be drug tested if you want to participate in an organization, that walking past a police officer every day and being constantly under the gaze of a security camera is normal."

He continues, "My concern is that these children are going to grow up and be less critical and thoughtful of these sorts of mechanisms. And so the types of political discussions we have now, like for example, whether or not wiretapping is OK, these might not happen in 10 years."

Teacher Cited In School Shooting Called "Ticking Time Bomb"

Knox County, Tn., school officicials had been warned about a a teacher who allegedly shot two principals yesterday, reports WBIR-TV in Knoxville. The station obtained an email warning school superintendent Jim McIntyre and Elisa Luna, the principal of Inskip Elementary School who was critically wounded yesterday, of a "ticking time bomb" teaching fourth grade at the school. The station reported that the teacher, Mark Foster, was set to be dismissed after the current school year.

Still, the school system's chief security officer told an informant that foster passed a fingerprint check. The Anderson County Sheriff's office had a history of complaints against Foster. He is accused of harassment, known to carry a gun, and had an order of protection taken out against him by his brother.

'Zero Tolerance' School Rules Lack Common Sense: Georgia Paper

The Savannah Morning News says Georgia's zero tolerance policies for school violations "allow for zero common sense. Where there is obviously no malicious intent, the punishment should fit the crime." In an editorial, the paper continued, "Georgia must make it clear that bringing a weapon onto school property jeopardizes public safety. Sadly, we live in a world where neighborhood violence can bleed into neighborhood schools, and where crazed young people have spawned tragedies on campuses. Schools must be safe zones. But that doesn't mean all offenses are alike."

Recently, a 14-year-old Georgia student who voluntarily turned in a pocketknife to his principal was was arrested and forced to spend the night in a youth detention center before receiving a hearing. The editorial says, "Protecting students in a post-Columbine world is serious business, so it's important for school administrators to do all they can to keep weapons off of school campuses. But it is also important for the state to have mechanisms to inject some common sense into the procedure before a student faces long-term suspension for an innocuous slip-up."

Violence Called Prevalent In Philadelphia School System

Violence is a problem at schools around Philadelphia, parents, teachers, and residents told the city's Commission on Human Relations last night, report the Philadelphia Inquirer. At one school, neighborhood violence and gang activity has been spilling over into classrooms. An English teacher said that last week 20 teenagers had burst into her room and attacked a female student. A male classmate dropped to the floor to protect her with his body.

"After calling for security, there was nothing I could do other than stand by and watch," the teacher told the commission, which held the first of 11 hearings on school violence. "There is little keeping our students safe within our school's walls." Gangs of students roam the hallways, teachers said. There is no firm discipline policy, and removing problem students is difficult. The building, which opened last year, is too large for the security staff to monitor, and the school had its third lockdown of the year last week. The hearings were convened after Asian students said they were attacked by groups of mostly African American students at one school last month.

Annual Report: School Crime and Safety

From fights to drugs to weapons to bullying, a new survey from the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the Institute of Education Sciences reports on crime in elementary and secondary schools. Between June 2007 and June 2008, there were 36 homicides, 6 suicides and one death by legal intervention on campuses. The survey also reports that for the first time, in 2007 rates of violent crime victimization at school were higher than outside school for youths ages 12-18.

Click here to read the report.

Use The Crime Report for more information on Juvenile Justice and Crime Victims.

Photo by Vipal via Flickr.

Report: 1.5M Teens Were Victims Of Serious School Crime in '07

A new federal analysis of school safety data indicates that more teenage students were victims of violent crimes and thefts at school than they were while away from school in 2007. The annual report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the National Center for Education Statistics says students ages 12–18 were victims of about 1.5 million nonfatal crimes (theft and violent crime) while at school and 1.1 million nonfatal crimes while away from school in '07.

The report said 10 percent of male students in grades 9–12 reported being threatened or injured with a weapon on school property in '07, compared to 5 percent of female students. The report, described as "the most current detailed statistical information on the nature of crime in schools and school environments," includes data drawn from several federal sources, including the National Crime Victimization Survey, Youth Risk Behavior Survey, School Survey on Crime and Safety and the Schools and Staffing Survey. (The link connects to the report on the BJS website.)

NY, MI, IN And ID Colleges Rated Safest By Website

A week after listing the nation's 25 most dangerous colleges, The Daily Beast follows up with its list of the 25 safest universities. The website said it based its ratings on crime statistics reported annually to the U.S. Department of Education, as well as more than 50 different criteria. The two safest campuses were both on Long Island in New York: New York Institute of Technology in Old Westbury and Farmingdale State University. Also in the top five were Grand Valley State in Allendale, Mich., Indiana Wesleyan in Marion, Ind., and Idaho State in Pocatello.

The website's list of the nation's most dangerous universities included three in the Boston area. Emerson in Boston was rated most dangerous, followed by St. Xavier in Chicago, Maryland-Baltimore, Tufts in Medford, Mass., and MIT in Cambridge, Mass.

Assessment of News Media Crime Coverage, 2007

Ted Gest and Deborah Halpern Wenger of Criminal Justice Journalists examine crime coverage in 2007, including major stories such as the Virginia Tech shootings and the "Jena Six" case.

Read Crime Coverage in 2007

Read a transcript of the Conference Call Assessing Crime Coverage