Each year in the United States more than two million teenagers are the victims of violent crime.(67) From 1980 to 1989, more than 11,000 people died as the result of homicides committed by high school-aged students using all types of weapons.(21) Guns accounted for more than 65 percent of these deaths.(21)
In an attempt to assess the level of victimization and the risk factors for becoming a victim of crime, the National Institute of Justice funded a voluntary and anonymous survey of students in a total of 10 inner-city high schools in four states C California, Illinois, Louisiana, and New Jersey.(68). Eighty percent reported that other students carried weapons to school, and nearly 67 percent reported personally knowing someone who carried a weapon to school. Twenty-five percent reported carrying weapons while in school, and 67 percent knew someone who had been shot at, stabbed, or otherwise assaulted while in school. Four in 10 respondents reported that male relatives carried guns outside their homes. Nearly one-third of the respondents had friends who carried guns outside the home, and one in four respondents considered guns easy to obtain in their neighborhood. Other surveys conducted around the nation reveal a significant amount of weapon carrying by students.(20-22,68-77)
A national survey of students in grades 6-12 who responded to the national PRIDE questionnaire (30) revealed that 4.3 percent of junior high students and 7.4 percent of senior high students had carried a gun to school. In the Monitoring the Future Project conducted by the Institute for Social Research of the University of Michigan, 5.1 percent of the Class of 1994 reported being injured by a weapon at school during the previous 12 months and 15 percent reported having been threatened by someone with a weapon.(30)
In 1990 the non-representative national school-based Youth Risk Behavior Survey revealed that almost 20 percent of all students in grades 9-12 had carried a weapon during the preceding 30 days. Hispanic and black males were more likely to have carried a weapon than white males C the figures are 41 percent, 39.4 percent, and 28.6 percent, respectively. Of students who had carried a weapon, 20.8 percent reported that they carried a gun. Black male students who carried a weapon were most likely to carry a gun (54.2 percent). Students who carried a weapon four or more times (8.7 percent of all students) during the 30 days preceding the survey accounted for 70.9 percent of weapon-carrying incidents.
A 1991 study, conducted in California, Illinois, Louisiana, and New Jersey, of incarcerated male juveniles convicted of serious offenses and high school male students in 10 inner city schools near the corrections facilities revealed that 55 percent of the incarcerated individuals carried a gun all or most of the time prior to their incarceration and 12 percent of the students routinely carried a gun; self-protection was given as the primary reason. Neither gang activity nor drug dealing was directly correlated to gun-carrying.(78)
While no specific correlations with the experiences of Michigan students can be drawn from the various surveys, the consistent themes revealed by the surveys are as follows:
A significant number of young people perceive that a handgun can be easily obtained
A significant number of students carry guns to school
Guns are usually carried to school for protection or because of anger
One study finds that adolescents who believe other students are carrying weapons in school are two to three times more likely to experience fear at school, exhibit school avoidance behavior, and bring a weapon to school themselves, compared to those students who do not believe that others bring guns to school. Younger students are more likely to engage in school avoidance behavior than older students.(76)
In 1995, 38 Michigan schools (excluding Detroit Public Schools) were randomly selected for the Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Twenty-two schools agreed to participate, and then classrooms were randomly chosen. Although the answers from the 1,351 students cannot be generalized to represent all Michigan high school students, the results do provide insight into the influence of weapons on Michigan students.(79)
A 1985 study conducted in Detroit revealed that 40 percent of the students surveyed believed that they needed a weapon at school at least once for protection. Though more than 30 percent of the students in the study admitted to carrying a weapon to school, actual weapon-carrying was not correlated to the students belief that they needed weapons for protection.(72)
A study of school-associated violent deaths from July 1, 1992, through June 30, 1994, reveals 105 confirmed deaths associated with the nation's schools, including 76 students. Homicide was the predominant cause of death (80.9 percent) and guns were used in most instances (77.1 percent). The victims and offenders tend to be young male students. The deaths occurred in the school building (31 cases), outdoors but on school property (37 cases), and off campus, while the students were traveling to and from school (37 cases); they occurred equally during and before/after official school activities. The median ages of victims and offenders were 16 and 17, respectively. Both victims and offenders were overwhelmingly male (82.9 percent and 95.6 percent, respectively).(80)
While the various surveys offer insight into the communities in which they were conducted, they actually provide little information on what is occurring in Michigan. To establish programs to reduce the risk for such violence, we must know the characteristics of students most at risk in Michigan;(70) this is one of the primary reasons that better data collection is needed both nationally and in Michigan.(77,81)
The creation of school environments that are free from violence and
drugs is one of the National Education Objectives for the year 2000,(82) and is a goal
referred to in Healthy People 2000.(83)