School House Hype: Two Years Later

		CENTER ON JUVENILE AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE PRESS RELEASE

		www.cjcj.org

Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, 54 Dore Street, San Francisco, CA 94103

Tel: (415) 621-5661 | Fax: (415) 621-5466

For Immediate Release: April 12, 2000

School House Hype: Two Years Later

[Executive Summary] [View the Report]

CONTACT: Daniel Macallair
E-mail: [dmacallair@cjcj.org]
Tel: (415) 621-5661 x310

New report finds public's worries grow even as schools become safer

One year after Littleton, punitive responses increasing and falling most heavily on minority youth

Washington, DC: Despite overwhelming evidence that violent crime by young people is declining inside and out of schools, public fears about youth and youth violence are growing, according to a new report.

The report, released jointly by the Justice Policy Institute and the Children's Law Center, found:

The number of school-associated violent deaths is small and not increasing. School-associated violent deaths decreased 40% from 1998 to 1999, from 43 down to 26 in a population of 52 million American students. In 1999, there was a one in 2 million chance of being killed in one of America's schools.
Yet Americans' fears about school violence increased. Despite the declines in violence, seven out of ten Americans in recent surveys said they believed that a shooting was likely in their school, and Americans were 49% more likely to express fears of their schools in 1999 than in 1998.

"As Americans take time to reflect on lessons learned from the shootings at Columbine High School, this report offers a great deal of hope for parents, school administrators and young people," states Justice Policy Institute Director Vincent Schiraldi. "The data reminds us that our young people are neither school-house assassins nor the kids on the other side of the yellow tape, weeping over the deaths of their classmates. Our kids are the ones playing soccer, going to dances and doing the other normal things kids do. They don't need us to turn their schools into prisons, they need our support to live healthy, happy lives."

The report, coming just before the first anniversary of the tragedy at Columbine High School, draws on recently released data from the Centers for Disease Control, the National School Safety Center, the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Applied Research Center. The report also analyzes public opinion polling by the Washington Post, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and the CBS Evening News. The researchers also conducted a separate analysis of case law concerning school liability.

Some of the report's other findings include:

FBI arrest data indicate that there was a 56% decline in juvenile homicides from 1993 to 1998, and a 30% decline in overall juvenile crime. Nearly two thirds of poll respondents (62%) believe that juvenile crime is on the increase.
3.1 million youth in America were suspended or expelled from school in 1997, or nearly 6.8% of all students. This is up from 3.7% of students in 1974.
School suspensions have fallen disproportionately on African American and special education students. An analysis of recently released data from the Applied Research Center reveals that black students are suspended from schools in Phoenix, AZ at 22 times the rate of white students, and in Denver, San Francisco, and Austin at 3 to 4 times the rate of white students.

"Whether they are black or white, kids shouldn't be punished for their mistakes by taking away their education," says Jason Ziedenberg, Senior Policy Analyst with the Justice Policy Institute. "The data clearly shows that minority children are bearing the brunt of the new zero tolerance policies."

An analysis of case law on school liability found that in spite of sensationalized lawsuits such as those in Paducah, KY, and Colorado, there has been no discernible trend by either state or federal courts in holding school officials liable. "Ironically, school systems may have more to fear from a liability standpoint for disciplining students too quickly and on insufficient grounds," states Kim Brooks, Executive Director of the Children's Law Center.

The report made three recommendations for reducing school violence and bringing public opinion closer to reality. First, it recommended that the media infuse contextual data about school safety into their reporting on school shootings so as not to "lead to a sense of unnecessary panic." Second, the report recommends that schools heed the research demonstrating effective methods for creating safe, nurturing atmospheres for learning. Recent research has found that schools in which students clearly understand the rules against violence experience fewer violent incidents than schools which rely on metal detectors and locker searches for security. Third, the gun industry should be regulated. Americans need to stop focusing exclusively on bringing guns to school and address the more fundamental question of how kids get guns in the first place.