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School Violence


Since the mid-1990s, America has witnessed a string of shootings in its schools. The deadliest of these tragedies occurred on April 20, 1999, when students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold went on a massive rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, killing twelve students and one teacher and wounding twenty-three others before killing themselves. Fortunately, there have been no subsequent shootings on the scale of Columbine. However, school shootings do continue to take place. For example, on April 24, 2003, James Sheets, a fourteen-year-old student at Red Lion Junior High School in Pennsylvania, shot and killed the school’s principal before turning his gun around and killing himself. On September 24, 2003, fifteen-year-old John Jason McLaughlin brought a gun to Rocori High School in Cold Spring, Minnesota, and shot two students, apparently at random. One victim died soon after being shot; the other survived for about a month before succumbing to his injuries. These are just two of many examples of deadly school violence since Columbine. These incidents, especially Columbine, have prompted a national debate over the nature, causes, and potential solutions to such violence.

Many surveys support the impression created by these shootings that violence is a problem in the schools. A report by Rand, a public policy research institute, finds that during a given school year, about one-half of middle and high school students report at least one incident of attacks, fights, theft, larceny, or vandalism. In addition, 7 to 8 percent of high school students report that they have been threatened or injured with a weapon on school property. A survey of school principals conducted by the U.S. Department of Education found that in one school year, 10 percent of schools experienced at least one serious violent crime, and 66 percent of schools experienced at least one less serious violent crime, including...