One of the most significant reasons for researching youth violence in school is to confront false ideas and misconceptions about youth violence. Myths can be dangerous because assuming a problem does not exist or failing to admit the real character of a problem can undermine the need for policy and intervention. Likewise, myths about youth violence can lead to heightened public fears that result in badly chosen and ill-advised policies. Such policies are a waste of limited public funding. One prevalent myth about youth violence is that ethnicity or race plays a significant role in perpetration and victimization statistics. However, according to a report of the Surgeon General on youth violence, “Data from confidential interviews with youths indicate that race and ethnicity have little bearing on the overall proportion of racial and ethnic groups that engage in nonfatal violent behavior” (Report, 2002, 1). While statistical evidence makes it clear and the Surgeon General report confirms it that there are racial and ethnic differences with respect to homicide, most case of school violence are nonfatal. According to the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence (CSPV) “Recent school shootings are atypical of school violence” (Youth, 2002, 1). This analysis will now explore the link between youth violence in schools and race/ethnicity.
According to data taken from the National Crime Victimization Survey, it is estimated that 2.7 million violent crimes occur annually at school or near school (Hill and Drolet, 264). Youth anger, lack of anger management coping mechanisms, lack of trust in adults, and the growing accessibility of firearms are resulted in thousands of injured students and adults annually in U.S. schools. For an estimated 37% of youth ages 12-15, violent crime victimizations occur on school property according to the Bureau of Justice (Hill, et al., 1999, 264). In a survey conducted by the National...