School Violence:
Fears Versus Facts

How safe are our schools? What caused so many youth to go on rampage shootings at their schools? Can we believe reports about how many guns are in our schools and how many students are being bullied? Does television violence really make children more aggressive? What kinds of school policies would make our schools safer? The answers to these questions and more can be found in School violence: Fears versus facts, a new book by Professor Dewey Cornell of the University of Virginia. Order This Book.

Illustrated with numerous case studies-many drawn the author's work as a forensic clinical psychologist-this book identifies 19 myths and misconceptions about youth violence, from ordinary bullying to rampage shootings. It covers controversial topics such as gun control and the effects of entertainment violence on children.

Professor Cornell demonstrates how the fear of school violence has resulted in misguided, counterproductive educational policies and practices ranging from boot camps to zero tolerance. He reviews evidence from hundreds of controlled studies showing that school-based violence prevention programs and mental health services, which are largely effective, are often overlooked in favor of politically popular yet ineffective programs such as school uniforms, Drug Abuse Resistance Education, and Scared Straight.

The author concludes by reviewing some of his own research on student threat assessment as a more flexible and less punitive alternative to zero tolerance, and presents a wide-ranging series of recommendations for improving and expanding the use of school-based violence prevention programs and mental health services for troubled students.

This book's purpose is to translate scientific research into language and concepts that educators, students, parents, law enforcement officers, mental health professionals, and policy makers can readily understand and apply in their efforts to prevent violence.