SAFER SCHOOLS NEWS-VOL. 160

Violence among Teen Girls on the Increase
Let’s Stop the Violence! See how Keys’ can help?

LEARN about …
 Learn how to identify Potentially Dangerous Students (PDS) from  pranksters.
 Download FBI’s Uniform Crime Report for 2001
 Learn about Programs to Combat Violence.

1 out of 4 violent episodes are being perpetrated by teen girls, up from just a generation ago when it was 1 girl -10 boys. As can be seen, girl violence is increasing from 1-10 and now 1out of every 4 violent episodes involves girls carrying it out.  According to the Justice Department, it is not just boys any longer, violence among girls is on the rise. Schools report a similar pattern in the number of girls suspended or expelled for fighting. Around the country schools, polices and teachers are seeing a growing tendency for girls to settle disputes with their fists. They are finding themselves breaking up playground fights in which girls are going at each other at an alarming rate.

• • In the last month more than 10 arrests were made at Dyett Academic Center in Chicago, after violence that included a group of girls who allegedly walked into a classroom and choked a student, pushed her to the floor, and stomped on her face.   Some parents at a south side Chicago public high school are refusing to send their daughters back to classes unless Chicago Public School officials address violent behavior by an alleged girl gang.  

• In another allegation, a group of 17-year-old girls were walking down a hall, escorted by security officials, when a group of girls beat them.

• A 14 –year-old girl was standing in front of Allentown’s South Mountain Middle School in Pennsylvania one morning last spring when another girl came up behind her, grabbed her ponytail and yanked her to her knees. After dragging her backward across the asphalt and tearing her jeans, the attacker then punched the 14-year-old six times in the face, bloodying her nose and lips.  ”She didn’t know my daughter,” said the girl’s mother. ”It was a problem she was having with one of my daughter’s friends. She said she grabbed her because she was the closest one.”  Allentown saw aggravated assault arrests of girls nearly double last year.

• At a birthday party in Baltimore, Nicole kissed a boy on the cheek as a dare. At least 6 other girls ages 12-15 and possibly 2 adult women then savagely attacked the 12 year-old and put her in the hospital in a coma. “This is vicious, ‘I-want-to-hurt-you’ fighting. It’s a nationwide phenomenon and it’s catching us all off guard.” Jansen Robinson, Former Baltimore School Police Chief.  Learn more -> Click Here

• Last May, girls were videotaped beating and kicking other girls during a hazing at well-to-do Glenbrook High School in suburban Chicago.

It’s not only happening in the inner city. The problem has bled into the suburbs where girls as young as 8 are getting into hallway brawls.  In interviews with more than a dozen high school girls, all said they’d witnessed a girl fight in the last year, and many admitted (with pride) that they’d been in one.  One 18-year-old teen girl at Liberty High School, PA said, ”A girl was saying stuff about me behind my back, ‘I had to confront her.”  This means popping the girl in the face. In Benton Harbor, MI  the Chief of the Benton Harbor Police Department said, “There have been some problems in the high school and amazingly it’s been primarily with the young girls fighting each other.” “By 5th and 6th grades it’s no longer put-downs and yelling,” said a Medical Director of a mental health treatment center for children and teens. He went on to say, ”We’re seeing more and more overt physical confrontation among girls. It can get pretty nasty.”  One in four high school girls in the nation reported they had fought at least once during a one-year period, according to the latest statistics, and arrests of teen girls for assault are off the charts. The same can’t be said for boys, who posted a decrease in aggravated assault arrests in the same time frame. 

In another organization similar stats are coming out.  The Center for the Study of Prevention of Violence in Boulder, Colo., reports that in the last decade, the number of female juveniles arrested for violent crimes (murder, robbery and aggravated assault) increased 25 percent, with no percentage increase in arrests of male juveniles during that same time frame.

Once again we ask ourselves, “Have we done all that we can to insure the safety of our schools?” Keys To Safer Schools.com is making a special offer to conduct a School Site Safety Survey and/or  will  review any school’s crisis planning and provide a written critique of any shortcomings found. To take advantage of this offer, mail your school’s Crisis Plan and supporting documents to:

Keys To Safer Schools.com
Cabot, AR 72089-0296.

Visit the Keys website for valuable information and resource material on school violence prevention at https://keystosaferschools.com.

Programs to Combat Violence
Kids are the Keys Assembly
See the Lock Out Violence Everyday Campaign – A community violence prevention program.
See SCHOOL SAFETY SITE ASSESSMENT
To Learn How “Keys To Safer Schools” Can Help.
Learning what to look for – “Early Warning Signs”
Map of School Shootings
Learn about National Reports on Violence