This article illustrates the story of a primary school in South Auckland, New Zealand, considering the state of well-being of its pupils. Situated in a deprived area with many people living in poverty, parts of the community caught in inter-gang rivalry, some children consider the school environment to be a safer place to be. Elements of the early…

Ensuring safer schools requires establishing good indicators of the current state of school crime and safety across the nation and regularly updating and monitoring these indicators. This is the aim of this report. This report is the thirteenth in a series of annual publications produced jointly by the National Center for Education Statistics…

The Commissioner's annual report provides the Governor and Legislature with information reported by school districts concerning incidents of serious student misconduct grouped into the following five major reporting categories: violence; vandalism; harassment, intimidation and bullying (HIB); weapons; and substance abuse. An analysis of trends…

"Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2008" provides the most recent national indicators on school crime and safety. The information presented in this report is intended to serve as a reference for policymakers and practitioners so that they can develop effective programs and policies aimed at violence and school crime prevention. The…

This report provides estimates of student victimization as defined by the 2005 School Crime Supplement (SCS) to the 2005 National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). the nation's primary source of information on crime victimization and the victims of crime in the United States. SCS is a supplement to NCVS that was created to collect information…

A joint effort by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and National Center for Education Statistics, this annual report examines crime occurring in school as well as on the way to and from school. It provides the most current detailed statistical information to inform the Nation on the nature of crime in schools. This report presents data on crime at…

This bulletin presents research on why youth join gangs and how a community can build gang prevention and intervention services. The author summarizes recent literature on gang formation and identifies promising and effective programs for gang prevention. The following are some key findings: (1) Youth join gangs for protection, enjoyment, respect,…

This article draws on a two-year study funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) of South Asian parents and their children's views on the school experience (Parents, Children and the School Experience: Asian Families' Perspectives--Grant Reference: R000239671). The article focuses on an aspect of the young people's school…

This handbook shares some practical and conceptual knowledge about gangs in schools and suggests some strategies for coping with gang problems in schools. A radical approach is proposed which advocates assimilating gangs into the fabric of daily school life. The strategies were derived from two formal studies conducted from 1982 to 1990 on Los…

Although viable leadership models for schools with differing social contexts are in great demand, empirical studies of high school principals have not produced consistent results. This paper summarizes part of a larger project designed to identify leadership behaviors of principals in "gang-impacted" and other secondary schools. The…

Schools cannot approach the problem of street gangs with the same strategies as law enforcement agencies, but rather must create a nurturing environment for all students, where success in school and life becomes the only attractive option for gang members. Street gangs represent the racial, cultural, and economic diversity of American society.…

This article describes the immense size of Unity Junior High School in Cicero, Illinois and the opinions of various people regarding its size. The school has more than 2,700 students, seventeen acres, eighty-eight faculty lounges, and ninety-six security cameras. Administrators hope the school--"Cicero's crown jewel," as the school…

Violence and drug use in schools have plagued, not only American society, but societies throughout the world. To explore this issue, some of the personal, psychological, and contextual variables hypothesized to predict violence in schools were examined. Violence was operationalized in terms of being attacked at school or avoiding certain places in…

Elementary school principals are in a key position to prevent school violence. This document reviews five publications that feature strategies administrators and teachers can use to create a safe school. In "Creating Safe Environments for Learning in North Carolina's Public Schools," Tanya M. Suarez reviews the literature on school safety and…

Discusses problem-solving strategies designed to diffuse the power of suburban youth gangs. Argues against using the metaphor of "war" to combat youth violence and outlines the dimensions of a comprehensive policy that emphasizes prevention, prosecution, and placement. Suggests what local governments can do to solve this problem. (RJM)