ABSTRACT
An atmosphere of solid intellectual safety, emotional safety, and physical safety and the related reduction in a sense of emotional, intellectual, and physical danger is conducive to learning and a sense of well-being (Bucher & Manning, 2005; Cohen et al. (2009). Schools should be safe places for both children and adults (Robers, Zhang, & Truman, 2010). When this perception of safety is broken by school violence and rampage killings, they command the attention of the public, school ofžcials, and parents. Public concern over school discipline (and school violence) seems to have diminished over recent years (Bushaw and Lopez, 2010). Gallop Polls related to education conducted in the United States from 1970 to 2010 show that public concern in the area of lack of discipline and control has diminished from a high of approximately 27% in 1980 to approximately 10% in 2010 (Bushaw & Lopez, 2010). Despite this drop in concern related to discipline and control, school violence is still an area of concern for schools (Robers, Zhang, & Truman, 2010). Each year the US Department of Education and the US Department of Justice Ofžce of Justice Programs develop a comprehensive report that details the state of schools in relation to violence. In the 2010 report, “Preliminary data show that among youth ages 5-18, there were 38 school-associated violent deaths from July 1, 2008, through June 30, 2009” (Robers, Zang,
& Truman, pg. iii). This number includes both homicide and suiciderelated deaths. The actual number of deaths by homicide was reported as 24 (Robers, Zhang, & Truman, 2010). In the 2008-09 school year, an estimated 55.6 million students were enrolled in prekindergarten through grade 12 (Snyder & Dillow, 2010 as reported in Robers, Zhang, & Truman, pg. iii). The number of homicides during this period equates to 1 in about 2.3 million students.
