Select and then define a significant social issue faced by the justice system, evaluate the scope and consequences of the issue, and analyze societys responses to the issue (inclu
Prior to beginning work on this assignment, read Chapters 9 and 10 from the required textbook. Select and then define a significant social issue faced by the justice system, evaluate the scope and consequences of the issue, and analyze society’s responses to the issue (including public policies and other less formal responses). Papers should also present a clearly reasoned alternative, supported by scholarly research.
While the following example can be modified to suit your needs, this outline is likely to result in a high-quality Final Paper:
- Identify the problem. Be sure to narrow your problem enough to allow a focused examination.
- Describe the individual, social, and criminal justice system implications of this problem. Discussion of implications should be supported by accurate research data.
- Summarize what experts say about the problem.
- Explain what you, as a society, have done to remedy this problem. Consider public policies and other, less formal responses.
- Analyze to what extent public policies and other, less formal responses are effective in addressing this problem.
- Propose an alternative solution to the problem.
- Analyze why the alternative is or can be, an effective response to the problem. Remember to consider the negative consequences of the alternative response.
- Conclude with your thoughts about your chosen social problem. This is a good place to include personal opinions, assuming you wish to share them in a research paper.
In short, define a problem, discuss the response, and provide alternative responses to the problem. For example, your problem could be drug use/abuse, with a focus on prescription drug abuse among teenagers. Your description of the problems should be fact based, relying on expert opinion. Your alternative response can be an adjustment to the current policy or a new direction. For example, you may propose longer prison sentences or the legalization of all drugs. Be creative, although suggestions must be supported by scholarly research.
Social issue: human trafficking
The Final Paper
- Must be 8 to 10 double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the UAGC Writing Center (Links to an external site.)’s APA Style (Links to an external site.)
- Must include a separate title page with the following:
- Title of paper
- Student’s name
- Course name and number
- Instructor’s name
- Date submitted
- For further assistance with the formatting and the title page, refer to APA Formatting for Word 2013 (Links to an external site.).
- Must include an abstract. See the Writing an Abstract (Links to an external site.) resource for additional guidance.
- Must utilize academic voice. See the Academic Voice (Links to an external site.) resource for additional guidance.
- Must include an introduction and conclusion paragraph. Your introduction paragraph needs to end with a clear thesis statement that indicates the purpose of your paper.
- For assistance on writing Introductions & Conclusions (Links to an external site.) as well as Writing a Thesis Statement (Links to an external site.), refer to the Ashford Writing Center resources.
- Must use at least 3 scholarly sources in addition to the course text, at least three of which can be found in the UAGC Online Library, to support your claims and sub-claims.
- The Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.
- Must document any information used from sources in APA style as outlined in the UAGC Writing Center’s Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.)
- Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the UAGC Writing Center. See the Formatting Your References List (Links to an external site.) resource in the UAGC Writing Center for specifications.
Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.) for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.
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9Crime in Schools and the Workplace
Ed Andrieski/Associated Press
Learning Outcomes After reading this chapter, you should be able to
• Discuss the nature and extent of crime at primary and secondary schools, including effects of such crime and methods and policies to address them.
• Discuss the nature and extent of crime at college and universities, including effects of such crime and methods and policies to address them.
• Discuss the nature and extent of crime in the workplace, including effects of such crime and methods and policies to address them.
• Explain why crimes occur at schools and in the workplace.
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258
Section 9.1 Nature and Extent of School Crime
On April 20, 1999, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris killed 12 students and one teacher at Columbine High School in Jefferson County, Colorado, before killing themselves. Although the attack occurred at a public high school, it was not typical of school shootings elsewhere in the nation. Indeed, their intention was to kill everyone at the school, including law enforcement officers, first responders, and parents by detonating bombs rigged in their cars.
According to the most definitive account of the attacks, both boys participated in and planned for the assault but for vastly different reasons (Cullen, 2009). One was an angry young man who hated his classmates as well as many other people in the world that appeared in his “hit list.” The other boy was clinically depressed and wanted to die. The boys purchased guns, knives, and explosives online and meticulously planned their attacks, even setting off bombs elsewhere for practice.
Their plan was to detonate a bomb in the cafeteria after first period, when more than 500 students would be present. The boys hid in their cars, armed with guns and additional explosives. They hoped to kill anyone who had survived the initial blast when they ran from the front entrance of the school. Their final act was supposed to end with the boys crashing their car, packed with explosives, into first responders, killing themselves in the process.
Fortunately, their largest propane bombs failed to go off, but the boys used their guns—as well as Molotov cocktails—to kill classmates in the cafeteria and library. After 49 minutes and 188 rounds of ammunition, 13 people lay dead and 24 more were wounded.
9.1 Nature and Extent of School Crime Though the Columbine High School massacre shocked the nation, such crime is actually rare in schools. In fact, given the number of students, teachers, and other personnel in schools on any given day, it is quite astounding how few violent episodes there are. To track violence in schools, each year, the United States Department of Justice and United States Department of Education publish Indicators of School Crime and Safety. This report presents data from various sources, including the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), the Youth Risk Behavior Survey from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as well as the Schools and Staffing Survey and School Survey on Crime and Safety from the National Center on Education Statistics (NCES). These data allow us to gain great insight into both the nature and extent of deaths, violent crime, property crime, student victimization, and teacher victimization that occurs at schools.
The data also show the prevalence of bullying, cyberbullying, gang activity, drug use, and hate crimes occurring at schools, as well as the effects of these offenses on students, teachers, communities, and society. Each of these terms is defined in this chapter. Table 9.1 shows the extent of various nonfatal crimes that occurred at American schools in 2017 as well as homicides and suicides that occurred at schools during the 2015–2016 school year (the latest years for which NCES data is available).
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Section 9.1 Nature and Extent of School Crime
School Crime Is Rare Table 9.1 makes several points about school crime in America. First, crime is actually quite rare given the number of students and teachers on school campuses and the amount of time they spend there. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (2019c), there were about 55.6 million students expected to attend elementary and secondary schools during the 2019–2020 school year. If students go to school for 9 months of the year, 5 days a week, and for about 7 hours each day, each student spends a total of about 1,400 hours in school per year. Given this, it is surprising that there is not more crime at schools, which hold at any time millions of young people in the phase of their lives when they are most likely to commit street crime because of their age (see Chapter 5).
However, these numbers show only crimes reported or discovered by schools. Many crimes, including minor crimes, but also even some serious crimes, remain undetected because they go unreported. Thus, the prevalence of school crime is likely greater than reflected in these data. Second, most crimes that occur on school campuses are nonviolent in nature, especially when you consider minor crimes not shown in the table (e.g., vandalism). And even of the violent crimes, most are not serious in nature, meaning they do not generally lead to bodily injury.
The data on school crime show an interesting paradox. For example, most deaths of young people through murder and suicide do not occur at school. Of the 1,478 homicides of children ages 5–18 years during the 2015–2016 school year, only 18 occurred at school (NCES, 2018a).
Table 9.1: Extent of crimes at American schools
Total nonfatal victimizations (2017, ages 12–18 years) 827,000
Thefts* 306,000
Violence* 410,000
Serious violence* 111,000
Total fatal victimizations (2015–2016, ages 5–18) 37
Homicides 30
of students 18
Suicides 7
of students 3
*Rounded to the nearest 1,000.
Source: From “Table 228.25. Number of nonfatal victimizations against students ages 12–18 and rate of victimization per 1,000 students, by type of victimization, location, and selected student characteristics: 2017” in Digest of Education Statistics, National Center for Education Statistics, 2018 (https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d18/tables/dt18_228.25.asp) and “Table 228.10. School-associated violent deaths of all persons, homicides and suicides of youth ages 5–18 at school, and total homicides and suicides of youth ages 5–18, by type of violent death: 1992–93 through 2015–16” in Digest of Education Statistics, National Center for Educational Statistics, 2018 (https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d18/tables/dt18_228.10.asp).
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Section 9.1 Nature and Extent of School Crime
Further, of the 1,941 suicides of the same age group, only 3 occurred at school. This means roughly 1% of murders and fewer than 1% of suicides occurred at school.
However, the rate of victimization of students for theft and violence for students was higher at school overall (33 victimizations per 1,000 students) than away from school (20 victimiza- tions per 1,000 students) (NCES, 2018b). This is likely because students spend more hours (while awake) at school per week than they do away from school. And time spent at school is time spent around lots of other young people—the very people most likely to commit street crime. That is, there is simply more opportunity for children to commit and to be victimized by crimes at school than away from school.
Overall student victimization rates both at and away from school have been steadily declining since 1992 (see Figure 9.1). Similarly, victimization by gender and race decreased between 2001 and 2017, with a 3% drop for male and female students, as well as for Black and His- panic students. White students reported a 4% decrease in victimization during this same period (NCES, 2018c).
Figure 9.1: Rate of victimization per 1,000 students at school and away from school, 1992–2017
Since the early 1990s, the number of reported criminal victimizations at schools and away from schools has decreased.
Note: Due to a sample increase and redesign in 2016, victimization estimates among youth in 2016 were not comparable to estimates for other years.
Based on data from “Table 228.20. Number of nonfatal victimizations against students ages 12–18 and rate of victimization per 1,000 students, by type of victimization and location: 1992 through 2017” in Digest of Education Statistics by National Center for Education Statistics, 2018 (https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d18/tables/dt18_228.20.asp).
0
20
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60
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‘92 ‘93 ‘94 ‘95 ‘96 ‘97 ‘98 ‘99 ‘00 ‘01 ‘02 ‘03 ‘04 ‘05 ‘06 ‘07 ‘08 ‘09 ‘10 ‘11 ‘12 ‘13 ‘14 ‘15 ‘17
At school Away from school
Note: Due to a smaple increase and redesign in 2016, victimization estimates among youth in 2016 were not comparable to estimates for other years.
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261
Section 9.1 Nature and Extent of School Crime
Media reports of school crime tend to create misconceptions of a danger that is actually quite small for the overwhelming majority of school users. For example, coverage of the mass mur- der over two decades ago at Columbine High School, discussed at the beginning of the chapter, was so widespread and intense that many parents were afraid to let their kids go to school and some simply refused to let their children attend (Robinson, 2011). Online sources such as the National Center for Victims of Violent Crime (2008) contribute to the misconceptions by making claims such as this: “Our nation’s schools, once a protected haven for learning and growth, are no longer safe for teachers or students in many of our nation’s communities.” In fact, schools are quite safe.
Even some of the data from the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Education (Musu et al, 2019) make it seem like school crime is worse than it really is. For example, it was reported that during the 2015–2016 school year, 69% of public schools recorded one or more violent incidents, and about 39% reported at least one act of theft. This suggests crime occurs at nearly all schools. Yet, only 16% reported serious violent incidents, meaning a crime like sexual assault, physical attack, or robbery.
Further, in 2017, only 2.2% of students ages 12–18 years reported being victimized by any crime at school, including 1.5% who reported theft victimization and .7% who reported violent victimization (Musu et al., 2019). In other words, nearly all students are not victimized by crime at school.
About 1 in 5 students reports being offered, sold, or given drugs (Musu et al, 2019), but these are only high school students, so drugs are actually not this prevalent in all schools (drugs are far less prevalent at elementary schools). One in 10 students in 2017 reported gangs were present in their high school, a dramatic drop from 1 in 5 students who reported that gangs were present in their schools in 2001 (Musu et al, 2019).
About 23% of students reported seeing hate-related graffiti at school in 2017, and about 6% were victims of hate-related words at school. As we will discuss in the next section, bullying of all kinds impacts about 20% of students ages 12–18 (Musu et al, 2019).
Bullying Bullying includes being made fun of, called names, insulted, the subject of rumors, pushed, shoved, tripped, spit on, threatened with harm, excluded from activities on purpose, forced by others to do things you don’t want to do, and having one’s property destroyed by others on purpose. According to the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Education (Musu et al, 2019), in 2017 13% of students ages 12–18 reported being made fun of, called names, or insulted; 13% were the subject of rumors; 6% were victimized by cyberbullying (also known as electronic bullying); 5% were pushed, shoved, tripped, or spit on; 5% were excluded from activities on purpose; 4% were threatened with harm; 2% were forced to do things they did not want to do; and 1% had property destroyed on purpose.
Of the students reporting being bullied in 2017, about 31% said they were bullied on 1 day during the school year, 19% were victims of bullying on 2 days, 30% were bullied on 3 to 10 days, and 20% reported being bullied on more than 10 days in the school year (Musu et al, 2019). Some students (4%) reported they had been bullied two to ten times in a single day during the school year.
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Section 9.1 Nature and Extent of School Crime
For students ages 12–18, bullying is more common among female students (24%) than among male students (17%). Specifically, female students are more likely to report some forms of bullying than male students, including being the subject of rumors, being made fun of, called names, or insulted, and being excluded from activities on purpose (the reason for this is explained later in the chapter). Bullying is also more common among Black students, White students, and students of two or more races (all 23%) than among Hispanic students (16%) and Asian students (7%) (Musu et al, 2019). Among high school students, 33% of gay, lesbian, or bisexual students and 34% of transgender students reported being bullied on school property (CDC, n.d.; Johns et al, 2019). The largest portion of bullying is reported to occur in hallways or stairways (43%), followed by inside classrooms (42%) or inside the cafeteria (27%) (Musu et al, 2019).
Bullying is more common among middle school students than among high school students. In high school, people are more mature and have learned (through experience and education) that many previously perceived differences between races are smaller and less consequential than first imagined. The higher rate in middle schools likely has to do with human develop- ment; it is during these years that young people begin to establish their own identities, find new peer groups, and separate themselves from people different than them. Regardless of when or where bullying happens, the negative effects on youth are significant (see Figure 9.2).
Figure 9.2: Effects of bullying on students ages 12–18
From Indicators of school crime and safety: 2018 by L. Musu, A. Zhang, K. Wang, J. Zhang & B. A. Oudekerk, 2019, National Center for Education Statistics (https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2019/2019047.pdf ).
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
59.2
21.4
19.4
60.5
12.7
26.8
67.7
13.6
18.6
77.8
8.4
13.7 0%
School work
Not at all
Aspect of life affected
Relationships with friends or family
Feeling about oneself
Physical health
Not very much Somewhat or a lot
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263
Section 9.1 Nature and Extent of School Crime
About 15% of students in grades 9–12 reported being cyberbullied in 2017. Incidents of cyberbullying were most commonly reported by gay, lesbian, or bisexual students (27%), female students (20%), White students (17%), and students of two or more races (16%) (Musu et al, 2019). Such incidents included being sent hurtful information on the Internet, being the subject of harassing text messages, instant messages, or e-mails, being the subject of an online rumor, and being excluded online.
As for hate words, students reported being targets of hate-related words that referred to race (2.8%), ethnicity (1.7%), gender (1%), sexual orientation (0.8%), religion (.7%), and disability (0.7%). Overall, this reflects a 50% decrease in the number of hate-related word victimizations from those reported in 2011 (Musu et al, 2019).
Another form of bullying is sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is commonly defined as unwelcome sexual advances, verbal comments, physical touching, and even offensive remarks about one’s gender (United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2012). Although we commonly think of sexual harassment as something that occurs in the work- place, it also occurs at schools.
Approximately 48% of students in grades 7–12 have been sexually harassed at school, with girls reporting higher rates of sexual harassment than boys (56% versus 40%, respectively) (Hill & Kearl, 2011). Harassment in school is both verbal and physical. Some girls report hav- ing to protect their private areas while walking through the hallways, as otherwise they leave themselves vulnerable to “grabbing” by boys passing by. For gays and lesbians, the problem is even more pervasive, with at least 70% reporting sexual harassment at school (Parker-Pope, 2008). Sexual harassment in schools is illegal under Title IX of the 1972 Education Act. This law applies to all school settings, including colleges and universities.
Other problems occur at school, some of which are criminal and others serious social prob- lems. Table 9.2 shows the percentage of schools that reported serious social problems occur- ring at their schools at least once a week during the 2015–2016 school year.
Table 9.2: Percentage of public schools reporting selected social problems occurring at least once a week, 2015–2016
Cyberbullying among students 12.0%
Student bullying 11.9%
Student acts of disrespect of teachers other than verbal abuse 10.3%
Student verbal abuse of teachers 4.8%
Widespread disorder in classrooms 2.3%
Student racial/ethnic tension 1.7%
Student sexual harassment of other students 1.0%
Student harassment of other students based on sexual orientation or gender identity .6%
Source: Indicators of school crime and safety: 2018, by L. Musu, A. Zhang, K. Wang, J. Zhang, & B. A. Oudekerk, 2019, National Center for Education Statistics (https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2019/2019047.pdf ).
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264
Section 9.1 Nature and Extent of School Crime
According to the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Education (Musu et al, 2019), crimes are more prevalent at high schools and middle schools than elementary schools. Rural schools are slightly less likely than city and suburban schools to report criminal activity, and city schools have the highest rates of serious violent crime (although they have the low- est rates of bullying). Data show that there is a positive relationship between school size and crime, meaning that as schools get larger, they host more crime. Since city schools tend to be larger, this increased opportunity for victimization likely explains their higher rates of crime.
The same kind of relationship is found between racial composition of schools and poverty and schools; as a school is home to higher rates of racial minorities and students that receive free or reduced-price lunch, the percentage of schools that report crimes on campus is higher. This is consistent with predictions made by social disorganization theory (Wynne & Joo, 2011).
Deaths at School Much research goes into studying school-associated violent deaths, which is not surprising given that crimes that produce death are viewed as the most serious crimes in America (Piquero, Carmichael, & Piquero, 2008; Stylianou, 2003).
Yet, as shown earlier, there were only 37 homicides at schools in the 2015–2016 school year, including 18 murders of students, plus 3 student suicides. Given the nearly 56.2 million stu- dents in elementary and secondary schools during this time, there was only one death result- ing from homicide or suicide of a student for about every 2.7 million students enrolled.
In spite of this fact, whenever a death occurs at school, it makes national news and is gener- ally linked to all other previous school deaths. School shootings are especially widely covered in the news (Newman & Fox, 2009) and helped establish a moral panic over the crime in the United States (Burns & Crawford, 1999). A moral panic occurs when the fear of or reaction to a crime is greater than the threat that crime actually poses; oftentimes, policies are created and implemented in response to a moral panic that are mostly unnecessary and can even make things worse (Robinson, 2011).
For many, the 1999 Columbine massacre may seem to be the first mass school shooting in American history, but in fact, mass school shootings date back to the 18th century. As shown in Figure 9.3, however, school shootings have increased both in frequency and severity over the last five decades. This increase has been met with an increase in concern over school safety. According to one study from the Associated Press and the National Opinion Research Center (AP-NORC, 2019), 67% percent of Americans feel that schools and colleges are less safe today than they were 20 years ago.
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265
Section 9.1 Nature and Extent of School Crime
However, it must be acknowledged that not every school shooting is considered an act of targeted school violence. Targeted school violence is defined as any school shooting or other violent attack where the school or a particular target at the school is selected prior to the attack, such as the attacks at Columbine High School (Vosskuil et al., 2002). There were at least 41 targeted violence incidents between 2008 and 2017 (National Threat Assessment Center, 2019).
A Study of Targeted Attacks A study of 41 incidents of lethal targeted violence at U.S. schools from January 2008 through December 2017 discovered several major potentially useful findings for preventing serious violent acts at schools (National Threat Assessment Center, 2019). First, such attacks are rarely impulsive and instead tend to be planned in advance. In 51% of cases, attackers dis- played planning behaviors beyond stating their intent to carry out an attack. In 41% of cases, planning began within one to six months prior to the attack.
Figure 9.3: Number of K–12 school shootings resulting in death or injury, 1970–2019
Based on data from K–12 school shooting database, by D. Riedman, D. & D. O’Neill, 2020, Center for Homeland Defense and Security (https://www.chds.us/ssdb/dataset/).
400
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50
0 1970–79 1980–89 1990–99 2000–09 2010–19
Shootings w/ injuries or deaths
Killed (total) Students or other children killed
Injured (total)
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266
Section 9.1 Nature and Extent of School Crime
Given the advanced planning, motivation of those who carried out school attacks is important. According to the study, retaliation was a primary motive of 61% of attackers. Most often, retaliation was related to bullying by the attacker’s peers (46%). Other primary motiva- tions included a desire to kill (17%), suicide or despera- tion (7%), trying to achieve fame or notoriety (5%), and psychotic symptoms (5%). These findings are consistent with rational choice theory, which posits that criminal- ity is motivated by potential gain including emotional gain such as a sense of satisfaction or increased atten- tion (Lab, 2010).
Also related to motivation, nearly all (94%) of the attack- ers had experienced stressors in the six months prior to the attack, with 51% experiencing a stressor within two days of the attack. Although 91% were found to exhibit symptoms of at least one psychological, behavioral, or developmental disorder, only 40% had received a men- tal health diagnosis prior to their attacks. Most com- monly, the stressors experienced were family-related (91%) or some form of bullying (80%). These findings support general strain theory, which suggests that crim- inality is caused by emotional adjustment to negative life experiences (Agnew, 2005).
Attacks were primarily carried out using firearms (61%), although knives were used in 39% of cases. What’s more, of those who used firearms, 76% acquired them from a parent or other close relative’s home. In fact, 77% of school attackers had a known history of using weapons, including 71% who had experience using guns. Despite research demonstrating that hav- ing a firearm in the house makes it easier to defend oneself from potential criminal attacks, research has also shown that having guns in the household significantly increases the chance of a household member using firearms to commit a violent act (Loft, 2010).
Most attackers caused concern in others due to their behaviors prior to the attacks. In 80% of cases, another person (e.g., a school official, parent, teacher, fellow student, or other) was concerned by the behavior of a future school attacker. However, although 89% of attackers had been seen displaying behaviors that should have been met with an immediate response, 66% of those cases were not reported.
MarkCoffeyPhoto/iStock/Getty Images Plus The majority of targeted violence in schools is planned at least two days in advance.
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Section 9.1 Nature and Extent of School Crime
Only 17% of the attackers had been arrested for or charged with violent offenses prior to their attacks, and 31% had any history of arrest. However, 51% had a history of violence that did not result in police contact. These findings are consistent with the tenets of basic crime prevention—the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Still, most of the attackers did not commit any serious act of violence prior to their targeted attack.
Other people generally knew about the attacks before they occurred. In 77% of cases, at least one person knew the attacker was thinking about or planning the attacks. In 77% of those cases, it was a peer who knew and in 14% it was an adult. Unfortunately, in most of these cases, no one came forward to tell of their concerns for a wide variety of reasons.
While there is no profile of the typical school attacker, the study found that 83% of the attack- ers were male, 63% were White, and 34% of such attacks occurred in suburban communi- ties. The age of the attackers ranged from 12 to 18 years. The attackers differed in terms of academic performance (although most of them were doing well in school). In terms of social relationships, most had at least one friend, 11% were in a romantic relationship, and nearly three-quarters participated in extracurricular activities. The degree of disciplinary problems in school varied, although 71% had received disciplinary action at some point in the 5 years before their attacks. Finally, 57% of attackers displayed some form of change in behavior or appearance prior to the attack. Many of these findings are inconsistent with social control theories, which would not expect serious criminality among children closely bonded to their peers, schools, and recreational activities.
Of all the attacks studied by the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Education, the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was the most lethal, claiming the lives of 26 people. Yet, the 2007 mass killings at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) remains the most lethal school shooting in the United States to date. Since this attack occurred at a college campus, it is discussed later in the chapter.
Teacher Victimization Teachers are also occasionally victimized by crime at school. For example, in the 2015–2016 school year, 10% of public-school teachers reported being threatened with injury by a stu- dent at school in the past year (Musu et al, 2019). Rates of threats were highest among male teachers, Black teachers, and elementary school teachers.
Further, 6% of teachers reported being physically attacked by a student in the previous year. Rates of student attacks of teachers were highest among female teachers and among elemen- tary teachers in public schools. This is likely because younger students are least capable of exercising self-control and because female teachers are sometimes perceived by aggressors as less capable of protecting themselves.
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Section 9.1 Nature and Extent of School Crime
In a survey of 4,735 teachers in 48 states, rates of teacher victimization surfaced as a great concern among educators (McMahon et al., 2011). In that study, approximately 50% of all teachers experienced one form of harassment, 33% experienced property offenses, and 25% reported a physical attack. Harassment included obscene remarks and gestures and threaten- ing remarks.
Theft and damage to property were the most common property offenses reported by teach- ers. In terms of physical altercations, teachers reported having objects thrown at them and being physically attacked. Teachers were also victimized by colleagues (18.9%) and parents (10.6%). Victimization rates were similar across race but differed according to gender. Male teachers reported slightly more victimization than female teachers.
Impact of Specific Factors on School Crime Researchers study several factors to aid in understanding—and preventing—crime in schools. Rates of crime vary across a number of student characteristics, including by sex, age, race/ethnicity, and urbanicity. Males are more likely overall to be victims of nonfatal crime at school than females (37 versus 28 victims per 1,000 students, respectively), although both are equally likely to be victims of theft at school (about 12 per 1,000 students for both males and females) (Musu et al, 2019). By age group, students ages 12–14 are more likely overall to experience nonfatal victimization (38 victims per 1,000 students) and are significantly more likely to experience violent victimization (27 victimizations per 1,000 students) than stu- dents ages 15–18 (28 nonfatal and 14 violent victimizations per 1,000 students).
Figure 9.4 shows how the percentages of criminal victimization at school vary by factors such as sex, age, race/ethnicity, and city size (i.e., urbanicity).
As shown in Figure 9.4, the percentage of A
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