ne of the most critical education issues faced by modern society.
Information from law enforcement officials suggests the likelihood that the incidence of school violence is underreported because states have yet to develop standardized reporting of school-related crime. Some school administrators exhibit reluctance to calling in law enforcement officials, believing that it is a sign that the administration has lost control of the situation. Thus students may report incidences of crime to school administrators but these incidents never get reported to the police: "Students quickly learn that assault and battery at school is treated differently than it would be at the local shopping mall" (Kipper 26). Several states have enacted laws which require school officials to make the necessary notifications to law enforcement agencies when crimes occur on campus.
The explosion of crime on school campuses is a relatively recent phenomenon. School violence was historically viewed as a relatively minor concern, concentrating on sporadic incidences of violence until the 1960s: " . . . the years prior to the 1960s may appropriately be called the 'preescalation period' in American school violence" (U.S. Congress, 1992, p. 55). Studies on crime noted that between 1960 and 1975, general criminal activity rose rapidly. The situation has not improved in subsequent decades; most urban areas have experienced double-digit increases in crime. School campuses are a reflection of the larger community; thus they have experienced a concomitant increase in crime. Whereas conflicts between students were once settled with words or fist fights, today these same conflicts often lead to aggravated assaults with deadly weapons. The most disturbing aspect about the rapid rise in violence in city schools is that the victims and perpetrators are getting increasingly younger: "Noteworthy is the fact that the greatest increase in crime rate [has] occurred ...