School violence

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it.
Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (June 2007)

School violence refers to violence and crime taking place within educational institutions.

1 United States
2 Poland
3 See also
4 References
5 External Links

[edit] United States

There were thirty-two school-associated violent deaths in the United States between July 1, 1999 and June 30, 2000, sixteen of which involved children of school age.^[1] The United States is not the only country with school violence problem though, Australia and England also have their fair share of violence.

According to the NCES, "in 2003, 5% of students ages 12–18 reported being victims of nonfatal crimes, 4% reported being victims of theft, and 1% reported being victims of violent incidents." ^[1] In addition, public school students were slightly more likely than private school students to report being bullied (7 vs. 5%). Rural students were more likely than their counterparts in urban and suburban schools to report being bullied (10% vs. 7% for both urban and suburban students).^[1] In a 1999 national survey of high school students: 7% of students (and 11% of male students) said they had carried a weapon to school in the last month; 8% of students said they had been threatened or injured with a weapon on school property in the past year; 14% said that they had been involved in a physical fight on school property in the past year; and 5% said they had missed at least one day of school in the last month because they felt unsafe at school or when traveling to or from school.^{[citation needed]}

In 1999–2001, 20% of all public schools experienced one or more serious violent crimes such as rape, sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault. 71% of public schools reported violent incidents and 46% reported thefts.^[1]

The National Center for Education Statistics, a part of the Institute of Education Sciences of the United States Department of Education, said that perpetrators directed 1.3 million non-fatal crimes, including 473,000 violent crimes and 817,000 thefts, against teachers.^[2]

[edit] Poland

In 2006, in response to the suicide of a student following a group sexual assault in a classroom, the Polish Minister of Education, Roman Giertych, launched a Zero Tolerance school reform.^[3] Under this plan, teachers would have the legal status of civil servants, making violent crimes against them punishable by higher penalties. Head teachers will be, in theory, able to send aggressive pupils to perform community service and these students' parents may also be fined. Teachers who fail to report violent acts in school could face a prison sentence.^[4]