WHEN CONGRESS passed a national school-violence policy in 1994, many states followed with even stricter measures. But those laws, it now seems, are based on a faulty premise: that courts are the best place for disciplining children.
The failure of this idea is clear in New York, where zero-tolerance policies have lead to arrests for gun possession on school grounds, but also for relatively minor offenses like shoving. Even nonviolent incidents—doodling, throwing food, back-talking—have landed kids in court, where last year New York sent more than 1 4OO minors (average age: less than l6) to correctional facilities.
According to a series of recent reports—by the Justice Department and the state Office of Children and Family Services—the institutions don't help. Nearly nine of 10 occupants commit additional crimes. It's a "school-to-prison pipeline," says Judith S. Kaye, the state's former chief judge.
She hopes the negative publicity will provide a push toward alternative modes of justice (like youth courts, where peers hear the cases of peers), more civics classes (where kids learn the virtues of sociability), and level headed adjudication—where detention doesn't always involve a cell. — T.D.
|Violence Prevention Programs Only|
|Eliminate weapons||Encourage students to abstain from violence|
|Suppress violent behavior||Identify causes of violence|
|Train faculty and staff to intervene||Adopt a threat-management policy|
|Target students who commit violent acts||Provide debriefing sessions for students traumatized by violent incidents|
|Discredit violence||Increase self-esteem|
|Have a weapons hotline||Teach students how to manage anger|
|Comprehensive Violence Prevention Program|
|Meet nurturing needs|
|Create a cooperative environment|
|Encourage positive and lasting relationships|
|Limit out-of school time|
|Provide long-term conflict resolution/peer mediation training to all students|
|Form partnerships with parents and community|
|Include components from violence prevention only programs|