Schools that count on metal detectors to stem the flow of weapons into the schools create a false sense of security. Recommendations include investing in personnel rather than hardware, cultivating the confidence of law-abiding students, and enforcing discipline. Metal detectors can be quite effective at afterschool events. (MLF)

The chair of the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence explains the center's STAR (Straight Talk about Risks) program, a pre-K-12 curriculum designed to teach children how to reduce their chances of being victimized by gun violence. Students rehearse behaviors that may one day be life saving, such as resisting peer pressure and recognizing and…

Examines four school districts' practical and cost-effective measures to eliminate children bringing guns into their schools. Lessons learned from these measures are discussed involving areas of leadership; cooperation; and the use of a balanced approach of enforcement, prevention, intervention, education, and community support. (GR)

Explores the debate over gun ownership and gun control in the United States, focusing on the historic place of guns in U.S. society. The current national mood is more receptive than ever to restricting and regulating adolescent access to guns in light of recent school shootings. (SLD)

The number of students killed or injured by gunfire while at schools is increasing. The National Rifle Association, the nation's powerful gun lobby, has a gun safety program; however, children's advocates say stricter gun-control laws are necessary. Briefly cites 24 gun incidents and describes 4 semiautomatic pistols that were among the firearms…

The National School Safety Center pegs the number of gun-toting U.S. students at 100,000. Unless metal detectors are employed as part of a carefully thought-out school safety plan, their use is likely to be ineffective, controversial, and a legal minefield. Random student searches are becoming common. A sidebar describes a Washington, D.C., junior…

More than ever, our public school system must confront weapons in schools and become aware of steadily rising statistics on youth homicide and suicide. This report delineates the problem, discusses why children carry weapons to school, and outlines strategies for keeping weapons out of schools and for improving school safety. Although some…

This report discusses a wide array of violence prevention strategies used across the United States, ranging from school-based prevention to gun market interception. Relevant research, evaluation, and legislation are included to ground these programs and provide a context for their successful implementation. The first section of the report is an…

The DeKalb County (Georgia) School System has reduced the number of gun-toting students by over 65% by piecing together a program combining education, community involvement, mandatory expulsion, and video technology. Kids do their part by learning the school's discipline policy, discussing nonviolent alternatives, and carrying clear bookbags. (MLH)

This article summarizes the U.S. Secret Service Safe School Initiative: An Interim Report on the Prevention of Targeted Violence in Schools. Targeted violence is a term developed by the Secret Service to refer to any incident of violence where a known attacker selects a particular target prior to the act of violence. Because of the Secret Services…

This publication results from on ongoing collaboration between the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Education. Its goals are to determine whether it could have been known that incidents of targeted violence at schools were being planned and whether anything could have been done to prevent them from occurring. Results from the Secret…

Contains abstracts of eight documents and six journal articles from the ERIC database that concern the creation of school and community environments in which children are safe from violence. (MDM)

The "Making the Peace" curriculum is a complete program offering everything needed to address violence prevention in the classroom, after-school program, residential program for youth, or juvenile justice setting. The curriculum can be adapted to various time frames and parts may be incorporated into social studies, health, or other…

This summary explaining the results of evaluations of programs to prevent youth violence is an attempt to fill the gap in information about what works and what does not. An effort is made to place the problem of youth violence in perspective, using information largely taken from Bureau of Justice statistics. The existing programs are divided into…

Many view the problem of violence as not merely a school problem, but as a much larger community problem that is finding its way into the schools. As a society, in addition to teaching our children how to be violent, we are giving them the tools of violence. There are steps that school board members can take to establish and maintain control of…