Violence in American Schools
A New Perspective

This volume offers a strategy for the problem of youth violence.

Delbert S. Elliott (Edited by), Beatrix A. Hamburg (Edited by), Kirk R. Williams (Edited by)

9780521594509, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 13 October 1998

420 pages, 7 b/w illus. 7 tables
23.8 x 15.8 x 2.9 cm, 0.755 kg

"There is much to like about this book. The authors provide an excellent review of the empirical literature. They establish an important set of facts about youth violence and efforts to prevent it. use a host of provocative, complementary perspectives." Contemporary

In this volume,experts from a range of disciplines use a variety of perspectives, notably those of public health, criminology, ecology, and developmental psychology, to review research on the causes of youth violence in the nation's schools and communities and on school-based interventions that have prevented or reduced it. They describe and evaluate strategies for the prevention and treatment of violence that go beyond punishment and incarceration. The volume offers a strategy for the problem of youth violence, arguing that the most effective interventions use a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary approach and take into account differences in stages of individual development and involvement in overlapping social contexts, families, peer groups, schools and neighborhoods. This book can be used profitably by school teachers and administrators, scholars, policy makers, and those who work with young people at risk, as well as by the general reader who is concerned with current social problems.

Part I. Introduction: 1. Violence in American schools: an overview Delbert S. Elliott, Beatrix Hamburg, and Kirk R. Williams
Part II. Understanding Child and Youth Violence: 2. Youth violence is a public health concern Margaret A. Hamburg
3. Social contexts and functions of adolescent virtue Jeffrey Fagan and Deanna Wilkinson
4. Juvenile aggression at home and at school Rolf Loeber and Magda Stouthamer-Loeber
5. The interdependence of school violence with neighborhood and family conditions John H. Laub and Janet Lauritsen
Part III. School Based Interventions: 6. Preventing firearm violence in and around schools James A. Mercy and Mark L. Rosenberg
7. Reducing violence through the schools J. David Hawkins, David P. Farrington, and Richard F. Catalano
8. Evaluations of school-based violence prevention programs Faith Samples and Larry Aber
9. Safe school planning Ronald D. Stephens
Part IV. Community-Based Interventions: 10. Exposure to urban violence: contamination of the school environment Raymond P. Lorion
11. Community policing, schools, and mental health: the challenge of collaboration Steve Marans and Mark Schaefer
12. Tailoring established after-school programs to meet urban realities Marcia R. Chaiken
Part V. Conclusions: 13. An integrated approach to violence prevention Delbert S. Elliott, Kirk R. Williams, and Beatrix Hamburg.

Subject Areas: Educational psychology [JNC]