Data on 153 youth suicides in Arizona (1994?1999) were used to explore demographic, behavioral, and experiential factors that distinguish between firearm suicide and suicide by other means. In bivariate analyses, White youths were more likely than non-White youths to use a firearm to commit suicide as were youths who had not experienced a life…

The national Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) monitors priority health risk behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of death, disability, and social problems among youth and adults in the United States. The national YRBS is conducted every two years during the spring semester and provides data representative of 9th through 12th grade…

Teaching parents and their young children about ways to avoid harm can be accomplished with much success in a group setting. Parents as Teachers of Safety (PaTS) is a multi-family educational group which instructs families on environmental and personal body safety rules, with an emphasis on improving knowledge and skills related to sexual abuse…

It is absolutely critical that high school games be organized in the safest way possible--both for the students, the staff who are directly involved and for all the spectators who watch these games. School officials have become vigilant with safety measures as a string of violent incidents has occurred in several school athletic events across the…

This report presents findings on crime and violence in U.S. public schools, using data from the 2005-06 School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS:2006). Developed by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and supported by the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools of the U.S. Department of Education, SSOCS asks public school principals…

The Youth Handgun Violence Prevention Project (YHVPP) was conducted in the Denver Metropolitan Area from July 1999 to June 2002. Several factors associated with youth attitudes and behaviors regarding handguns were identified and verified empirically. Interventions were designed to modify these factors and to evaluate their effectiveness in…

The national Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) monitors priority health risk behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of death, disability, and social problems among youth and adults in the United States. The national YRBS is conducted every two years during the spring semester and provides data representative of 9th through 12th grade…

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)

A posttest only control group design was used to investigate the effects of two programs to teach firearm injury prevention skills to second and third grade children. Children were taught the safety skills "Stop. Don't touch. Leave the area. Tell an adult." should they ever find a firearm. The effectiveness of the National Rifle Association's…

Fatal and nonfatal injuries due to suicidal behavior among younger adolescents are of growing concern for many communities. We examined the incidence and patterns of these injuries among persons aged 10-14 years using three databases, two national and a third from Oregon. Suffocation and firearm gunshot were the leading external causes of suicide;…

The "Safe School Initiative" was implemented through the Secret Service's National Threat Assessment Center and the Department of Education's Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program. The "Initiative" drew from the Secret Service's experience in studying and preventing assassination and other types of targeted violence and the Department of Education's…

Following the events which took place on September 11, 2001, and the anthrax attacks which occurred after that date, US authorities became concerned with the idea that an assault with chemical or biological weapons could take place on American territory or in American ships or planes. A worrisome model for such an assault was the 1995 terrorist…

Metaphors can both inspire and mislead the public. Current metaphors for youth violence are inconsistent with scientific evidence about how chronic violence develops and evoke inaccurate or harmful reactions. Popular, problematic metaphors include "superpredator", "quarantining the contagious", "corrective surgery", "man as computer", "vaccine",…

In 2006, more than 6 million individuals were victimized by violent crimes. Although violence is below levels of the early 1990s, it remains high. The extent of violence and its impact highlight a critical need to develop and implement effective programs to reduce violence and victimization. Communities have initiated a wide range of such…

In a case involving a knife in a car and a school's zero-tolerance policy, a circuit court decided it was unfair to expel a student for possessing a prohibited item if he did not know of its presence. Injury to another is impossible under those circumstances! (MLH)