Preventing Violence and Crime in America's Schools: From Put-Downs to Lock-Downs

by William L. Lassiter, Danya C. Perry

Overview

While major incidents like the shootings at Columbine or Virginia Tech grab headlines, everyday occurrences of bullying, harassment, and physical intimidation in schools regularly impact entire communities, driving children from public schools and destroying faith in public education. Preventing Violence and Crime in America's Schools: From Put-Downs to Lock-Down provides educators, parents, law enforcement officials, and other youth service professionals with a unique perspective on the topic of school violence, offering solutions to the problems that face all schools when it comes to the question of violence and safety.

William L. Lassiter and Danya C. Perry examine the specifics of school violence, opportunities to prevent and intervene, and the importance of planning for a crisis. While most other studies of school violence highlight research or practitioner viewpoints, this work balances insights gained through real-world experience with research on current best practices. The result is a fuller understanding of the problem that enables solutions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780810890619
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	05/06/2013
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

William L. Lassiter worked for the Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Center for the Prevention of School Violence in 1997, coming to manage the center, where he coordinated a number of initiatives. These include his coauthoring the scripts for “Critical Incident Response: Recommendations for Schools, Law Enforcement, and Emergency Responders for Putting Together the Tools They Need to Respond to a Crisis” and its accompanying video A Critical Incident: What to Do in the First 20 Minutes; the ‘‘What We Want to Be Is Bully-Free’’ campaign; and the National Evaluation of School Resource Officers. Lassiter received the 2007 Hamilton Fish Institute’s National Award of Service for his outstanding work in the area of school violence prevention.

Danya C. Perry has served as an education consultant for over a decade. He currently works for Communities in Schools of North Carolina as a field services specialist,where he has spearheaded statewide initiatives aimed at school violence prevention, focused specifically on gangs and gang-related activity. Perry has also worked for the nationally recognized Center for the Prevention of School Violence since 1997.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction: Our Motivation xi

I Understanding School and Community Violence 1

1 What Is School Violence? 3

2 Separating Myth from Reality 13

3 Root Causes of School Violence 25

4 Early Warning Signs of Aggressive Behavior 37

5 Addressing Risk and Building Resiliency 47

II Problems and Problem Solvers 63

6 Bullying 65

7 Addressing Gangs in the School 85

8 Managing Conflict to Build Positive Relationships 101

9 The Need for People, Not Programs 113

10 The Role of Parental Involvement in Prevention 123

11 Building Successful Family and Community Partnerships 137

III The Reality of School Violence 151

12 Safety by Design 153

13 When a Threat Is Made 163

14 How Columbine Changed Everything 171

15 "You Must Prepare for the Day You Hope Will Never Come" 179

16 Responding to a Crisis 191

Conclusion: Pulling It All Together 197

Notes 203

Bibliography 213

Index 221