A Study On The Causes And Countermeasures Of School Violence In America

Childhood and youth violence in the schools is a major concern in the United States, and significantly more students report taking a weapon to school. Statistically, school violence is rare (only 1% of all youth homicides are school related) and declining (the number of incidents dropped by almost half from 1992 to 2003), but the general agreement is that any act of violence, and certainly severe acts of violence, committed on school campuses is unacceptable.School violence is complex and multifaceted. A critical first step toward developing and implementing effective violence prevention strategies and creating a safe school environment is the recognition of the multiple risk factors involved and the complexity of the issues associated with school violence.The paper discusses the dominant risk factors of school violence which include family risk factors; community risk factors; and school risk factors. Community risk factors and family risk factors will be portrayed in detail in the paper. The influence of Television, video games, internet and gun can not be ignored. School violence also has great links with family violence, single parent family and the breakdown of family. The paper further illustrates possible countermeasures and programs enacted by the federal government, states government and schools. A few strategies like high-quality preschool education, family-school connection and listening to students' ideas are provided. Then it analyzes the importance of establishing a safe school environment.