Causes of Adolescent Violence within School

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Violence is a major issue in educational institutes. School violence continues to increase at an alarming rate. “Every year, 3 million young people in the United States fall victim to crimes at school. Almost 2 million of these incidents involve violence” ("The Challenge of School Violence"). What causes an individual to act out in violent ways in a school environment? There are many fatal and nonfatal practices of violence happening in school settings. In my opinion, there is no justification for individuals to go to particular extremes, such as school shootings. Stuart Henry states, “Our nation's schools should be safe havens for teaching and learning, free of crime and violence. Any instance of crime or violence at school not only affects the individuals involved, but also may disrupt the educational process and affect bystanders, the school itself, and the surrounding community (“What Is School Violence?”).” After taking a deeper look into why one may feel the desire to act out in such vulgar ways, I have concluded that violence often results from bullying, explicit media, and environmental impact.
First, bullying is most directly associated with relation to school violence. Various incidents were examined by the U.S. Secret Service and the Education Department, later referred to as the Safe Schools Initiative. Through in-depth interviews the Safe School Initiative department discovered that, “approximately 71% of the attackers had experienced threats, physical violence, persecution, and bullying from other students before carrying out their violent attacks”(“Bullying”). Experiences of severe bullying can lead to feeling resentment toward the bully. Bullying is a form of abuse that causes weakening individuals to build up...

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“Juvenile Crime.” Encyclopedia. World News Digest. Infobase Learning, n.d. Web. 25 April 2014. .
Klein, Jessie. The Bully Society: School Shootings and the Crisis of Bullying in America's Schools. New York: New York UP, 2012. Print.
"Media Violence." Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection. Detroit: Gale, 2013. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 28 April 2014.
"Should You Worry About School Violence?" KidsHealth - the Web's Most Visited Site about Children's Health. Ed. Steven Dowshen. The Nemours Foundation, 01 Dec. 2012. Web. 30 April 2014.
"The Challenge of School Violence." Challenge of School Violence. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.
Vossekuil et al., Final Report and Findings of the Safe Schools Initiative, i.

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