Preventing Campus Violence

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Preventing Campus Violence
Isaiah Clements
Bethune-Cookman University
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Preventing Campus Violence
The rising cases of serious violent crimes have not only overwhelmed the police agencies
but also raised a specter of serious violence on college campuses. Data compiled from schools
across the country are showing increased cases of sexually related crimes, murder, and
aggravated assault. While understanding crime rates is important for the entire population, it’s
especially important for college students. Students, who go away from home for the first time,
may not have the experience to be street savvy. The longtime effect on violent crimes on
campuses poses long term effects both psychologically and physically. It is therefore important
when institutions raise awareness and prevent future violence. Preventative measures to curtail
college campus include psychological methods, Technology, law, mass notification and most
importantly student personal protective measures
Methods Used To Prevent School or College Campus Violence
Mental health status is one of the major determinants of criminal tendencies. To ensure
mental health in campus specialized education programs concerning causes of suicide attempts,
drug abuse, eating disorders should be offered in all schools. Other generalized services should
also be encouraged as most students may opt to handle their issues alone. Mental health is a step
to curtail crime in general. To lessen harm faculty and campus staff should be able to support
victims overcome the trauma and further counseling sessions to help them cope. Survivors of
sexual violence who seek help or intervention from their college or university should encounter a
system that provides coordinated, confidential support and addresses their needs in a non-
judgmental environment. Students should be made to feel confident and safe in reporting policies
and accessing available resources. The initial step in creating a healthy mental environment on
campus is to query reporting student with unusual academic history as well as criminal records
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Technology is another method used to prevent violence. Physical and electronic security
such as CCTV cameras has been used to solve many crimes. Video footage retrieved from these
sources can narrow down the search for perpetrators and sometimes even identify them.
Emergency signaling installed in classrooms can help students stuck in danger of alert
emergency teams. Exterior doors should be properly constructed and lockable. Some schools
have exterior doors in need of repair or replacement; which poses a possible threat to the
students. To ensure the success of technology in preventing crime, the response team and police
should be well trained in the use of specialized firearms. The police should also be able to gain
forcible entry into locked rooms and buildings.
School preparedness and mass notification is a way to create awareness that violence will
not be tolerated in schools and colleges (Basile, DeGue, Jones, Freire, Dills, Smith, Raiford,
2016). Policies outlining how staff respond and refer to students have the potential for violence,
is one way to preparedness. Protocol in times of crisis and training of staff in identifying risk is
mandatory. The school should further collaborate with outside agencies especially the police.
When it comes to criminal law should be followed and perpetrators should always be punished
for attempt or committing the crime. Sensitizing students on prevention by introducing basic
crime prevention courses for every undergraduate is a necessary part of mass notification.
We must not, become complacent and ignore the potential for violence, When such
incidents of extreme violence occur, they receive intense and long-lasting media focus. This
attention produces a contagion effect when others identify with the perpetrators, rather than with
the victims and their families, increasing the likelihood of copycat violence.
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References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2014). Preventing sexual violence on college
campuses: Lessons from research and practice. Retrieved June 6, 2015 from
https://www.notalone.gov/schools/.
Basile, K.C., DeGue, S., Jones, K., Freire, K., Dills, J., Smith, S.G., Raiford, J.L. (2016). STOP
SV: A Technical Package to Prevent Sexual Violence. Atlanta, GA: National Center for
Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Preventing Campus Violence

Preventing Campus Violence

importantly student personal protective measures

Methods Used To Prevent School or College Campus Violence

forcible entry into locked rooms and buildings.

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