CSPV
School Violence Fact Sheets
Youth
Violence: A Public Health Concern
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- Intentional violence accounts for one-third of all
injury deaths in the United States.
- Intentional interpersonal violence disproportionately
involves young people as both perpetrators and victims.
- Among minority youth, particularly African Americans,
violence has struck with unique force in recent years.
Homicide has been the leading cause of death among
African American males and females between the ages
of 15-24 for more than ten years.
- Firearm-related deaths among African American youth
have particularly increased. Between 1984 and 1993,
gun-related deaths of young African American males
tripled, with the most dramatic rise among those 13
to 18 years old.
- As levels of violence in the general society have
risen sharply, it is a disturbing, but not surprising
corollary that the levels of violence in and around
schools have also increased.
- Research suggests that violence in schools derives
mainly from factors external to schools, but may be
precipitated or aggravated by the school environment.
- Student assaults on other students are the most
frequent type of violence reported in schools.
- In recent years, weapon carrying by students in
schools has become a growing source of violence and
threat of violence. A study by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (1995) found that nearly one-fourth
of students nationwide had carried a weapon to school
during the month preceding the survey.
- Violent incidents and threats of violence at school
negatively affect students, school staff, and the
educational process. Fear and feelings of being unsafe
cause students to miss school and participate less
in class.
- The personal health costs and economic costs to
society from the devastation of violence are immense.
Nationwide, the average cost of fatal and nonfatal
violent injuries was $44,000 in 1992. The total medical
cost of all violence that occurred in the United States
was estimated at $13.5 billion in 1992.
- Traditionally, youth violence has been addressed
by justice or sociological domains and not as a concern
for the public health system. In recent years, a proven,
effective public health approach has become an increasingly
important resource in the effort to prevent youth
violence.
- The public health approach emphasizes primary prevention
-- that is, prevention taking place before the onset
of disease or injury. Primary prevention identifies
behavioral or environmental risk factors associated
with disease and takes steps to educate the community
about, or protect it from, these risks.
- Just as application of public health principles
and comprehensive strategies reduced the number of
deadly traffic accidents and the number of deaths
attributed to tobacco use, the public health model
can help reduce the extent of injuries and deaths
attributed to violence.
- The public health model includes five essential
features:
- Community-based methods for problem identification
and the development of solutions across entire population
groups;
- Health-event surveillance for gathering data to
establish the nature of the health problem and to
track relevant risk factors and the trends of its
incidence and prevalence;
- Epidemiological analysis to identify risk factors
and associated co-factors associated with the health
problem;
- Intervention design and evaluation; and
- Outreach/education/information dissemination.
- The public health approach allows one to think about
violence not as an inevitable fact of life, but as
a problem that can be prevented. It empowers individuals
and communities to reduce the risk factors leading
to violent behavior.
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