Schools and teen violence: Black male teen sits sullenly in classroom chair listening to Black male teacher both in front of green chalkboard

School interventions offer best shot at reducing youth violence

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Black youth show up in emergency rooms with gunshot wounds or other violent injuries at an alarming and disproportionate rate in the United States. Some hospitals have violence interventions that can be effective in keeping these kids safer after they are treated, but in most cases victims are sent back into the world to continue their struggles. What if, years earlier, we could identify factors that predict which children are most likely to head down paths to violence?

Parents of teen charged in school shooting to stand trial: middle-aged white man and woman in facemasks sit at hearing

The parents paying for their children’s crimes

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In separate trials earlier this year, Jennifer and James Crumbley became the first parents in U.S. history to be convicted of involuntary manslaughter for a mass shooting committed by their child. They were each sentenced to 10–15 years in prison, the maximum penalty for the crime. Prosecutors argued the Crumbleys ignored urgent warning signs that their son Ethan was having violent thoughts, and that the parents provided access to the gun he used to kill four classmates and injure seven other people at his school in November 2021.

Student psychiatric evaluations: Woman with long red hair in ponytail and navy sweatshirt hugs and kisses forehead of young boy with black hair

Schools are sending more kids to psychiatrists out of fears of campus violence, prompting concern from clinicians

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The 9-year-old had been drawing images of guns at school and pretending to point the weapons at other students. He’d become more withdrawn, and had stared angrily at a teacher. The principal suspended him for a week. Educators were unsure whether it was safe for him to return to school — and, if so, how best to support him.

Uvalde families plead for languishing Texas gun bills: group of people in black shirts stand next to someone speaking at podium

Uvalde families plead for languishing Texas gun bills

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Parents whose children were killed in the Robb Elementary School massacre made sobbing pleads for stricter gun laws before legislators early Wednesday on languishing proposals that appeared headed to stall in the face of a Republican majority.

Oxford school shooter's parents can face manslaughter trial: two people with masks sitting at table with hands cuffed while policeman looks on from background

Oxford school shooter’s parents can face manslaughter trial

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The murders would not have happened if the parents hadn't purchased a gun for Ethan Crumbley or if they had taken him home from Oxford High School on the day of the shooting, when staff became alarmed about his extreme drawings, the appeals court said, in a groundbreaking case of criminal responsibility for the acts of a child.

Denver school shooting suspect dead; parents push security: people marching down sidewalk with "Stop gun violence" sign

Denver school shooting suspect dead; parents push security

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A 17-year-old student was found dead in the Colorado woods after being accused of shooting and wounding two administrators at his Denver high school where students and parents were already fed up over recent violence and a lack of action by officials, authorities.

school police debate: school security guard looks out over cafeteria full of students

A Wisconsin district debates the effects of terminating school police

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Madison is one of about 49 public school districts nationwide that, according to Education Week, have trimmed or eliminated school policing programs since 2020. While some districts that removed police officers have reported largely positive results, in Madison, some students, parents and educators are considering what they believe they’ve lost.

Guns in school: Hand gun and biiks sitting in open black backpack

School gun case sparks debate over safety and second chances

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Most gun incidents in and around campuses are more like Oak Park than Uvalde. They're not planned large-scale shootings, or active-shooter situations. More often, they're smaller altercations that escalate when someone has a gun at or near a school, a game or other event, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database, which tracks incidents from the last five decades.