School violence expert: school crime may never end, but can be reduced

University Relations News Bureau
(601) 325-3442
Contact: Maridith Geuder

School violence expert: school crime may never end, but can be reduced

STARKVILLE, Miss.-High-profile shootings by students in Mississippi, Kentucky and Arkansas generate international headlines and parental fears that school violence is the norm.

But a professor who developed a new method for reducing school crime says deadly incidents are anomalies that should mobilize the public to action.

"The minute we stop being shocked by killings such as those in Jonesboro, we're desensitized to the violence," says school psychologist T. Steuart Watson, a professor in Mississippi State University's counselor education/educational psychology department.

Watson is the author with Dennis J. Kenney of "Crime in Schools: Reducing Fear and Disorder through Student Problem-Solving," to be issued mid-April. Kenney is with the Washington, D.C.-based Police Executive Forum, which published the book.

Students, teachers and parents must join in recognizing signs of potential violence and seeking help for students who give warning signals, Watson said.

"In each case of recent tragic violence, there has been a verbal warning," he said. Students who hear classmates threaten violent acts should know it's their responsibility to share the information, he emphasized.

"The school should have specific people designated to respond and procedures in place for how to respond," he said.

While there's no way to absolutely predict violence in a specific youngster, it is possible to predict which kids are prone to aggression and violence, Watson explained.

Among some indicators: those who have difficult relationships with peers, Especially those who show aggressive behavior such as threatening physical harm. These often are kids with difficult family relationships who may also have trouble getting along with adults, he continued.

"The kids who commit violent acts are not the normal kids who suddenly snap," he

said. "There's usually a lengthy history of small problems."

While we may never eliminate the potential for school violence, "I think we can reduce it to less harmful and less frequent levels," Watson said.

An approach detailed in his soon-published book has been endorsed by the U.S. Justice Department as a model program. During the 1993-94 school year, Watson and Kenney implemented a problem-solving approach to school issues with 11th- graders in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County School District in North Carolina.

"One day each week students worked on an issue, especially those involving school safety," he explained. Students followed a four-phase process that included identifying the problem, analyzing the environment and potential responses, implementing strategies,and evaluating success.

"This approach grew out of problem-solving psychology and a problem-oriented policing philosophy," he explained. More than 250 students participated in the year-long project, which resulted in a 65 percent decrease in student disruptions. Even more significantly, the students' fears about school dropped by 75 percent.

"Charlotte school officials were so happy with the program that they're implementing it in every high school in the area," Watson said. Houston and Seattle also are adopting the approach.

"We live in a culture that accepts the use of guns and accepts violence in music, television and movies," he pointed out. "Given our society, I don't believe we can eliminate violence from our schools completely. But I think we can make a difference."

-30-

For more information, contact Dr. T. Steuart Watson at (601) 325-7101.