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A Dozen Things Students Can Do to Stop School Violence
- Refuse to bring a weapon to school, refuse to carry a weapon
for someone else, and refuse to keep silent about those who carry
weapons.
- Report any crime immediately to school authorities or police.
- Report suspicious behavior or talk by other students to a teacher
or counselor at your school. You may save someone's life.
- Learn how to manage your own anger effectively. Find out ways
to settle arguments by talking it out, working it out, or walking
away rather than fighting.
- Help others settle disputes peaceably. Start or join a peer
mediation program, in which trained students help classmates find
ways to settle arguments without fists or weapons.
- Set up a teen court, in which youths serve as judge, prosecutor,
jury, and defense counsel. Courts can hear cases, make findings,
and impose sentences, or they may establish sentences in cases
where teens plead guilty. Teens feel more involved in the process
than in an adult-run juvenile justice system.
- Become a peer counselor, working with classmates who need support
and help with problems.
- Mentor a younger student. As a role model and friend, you can
make it easier for a younger person to adjust to school and ask
for help.
- Start a school crime watch. Consider including a student patrol
that helps keep an eye on corridors, parking lots, and groups,
and a way for students to report concerns anonymously.
- Ask each student activity or club to adopt an anti-violence
theme.The newspaper could run how-to stories on violence prevention;
the art club could illustrate the costs of violence. Career clubs
could investigate how violence affects their occupational goals.
Sports teams could address ways to reduce violence that's
not part of the game plan.
- Welcome new students and help them feel at home in your school.
Introduce them to other students. Get to know at least one student
unfamiliar to you each week.
- Start (or sign up for) a "peace pledge" campaign,
in which students promise to settle disagreements without violence,
to reject weapons, and to work toward a safe campus for all. Try
for 100 percent participation.
Return to Crime Prevention Tips
Crime Prevention Tips Provided by:
National Crime Prevention Council
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