Although no school is immune from violence, a school can increase its resistance by identifying and seeking consensus about a safety problem, organizing a central committee, studying the problem, formulating a plan, conducting a safety audit, and training crisis response teams. Taking action to lessen staff's fears and vulnerability can improve…

Summarizes violence prevention programs and activities in five urban school systems. Chicago schools have hired their own security staffs, use cameras in hallways, and provide character education, peer mediation, and mentoring sessions. Buffalo and Memphis schools stress tight security measures and weapons confiscation. Baltimore schools and…

A personalized education, according to Ted Sizer, means that students are known by adult professionals in the school. Administrators at a California high school with 2,000 students and very large classes initiated an adopt-a-kid program by matching adult volunteers on campus with low-achieving students. This program, along with a successful block…

Study uses a grounded theory approach to the qualitative analysis of the descriptions of thoughts and feelings of 26 incarcerated child molesters describing a recent or typical offense. The resulting model was applied to the offense descriptions of an independent sample of 12 incarcerated child molesters to ascertain its cross-sample validity and…

Reports schoolwide social skills assessment and training model including two-gate student identification procedure (in-class social skills training for all students and small group intensive training for at-risk target students). Model is directed at reducing future serious problems by addressing identified difficulties early. Notes that of…

Proposes multisystemic educational prevention approach to Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) for adolescents. Model described uses intrapersonal, interpersonal, and social processes incorporating school-family-community system. Examples focus on AIDS in African American and Hispanic adolescents, emphasizing sociocultural factors relevant…

Ninety-one child sex offenders were interviewed about the methods they used to target children, the age range of their victims, how they selected children and maintained them as victims, and what suggestions they had for preventing child sexual abuse. Nearly half the offenders reported no bad feelings about sexually abusing children. (Author/DB)

Discusses the rise of juvenile crime in the United States, explores the failure of the juvenile justice system to stem the tide of youth crime, and examines the issue of prevention. The author argues the need to always hold youth offenders accountable for the crimes they commit and suggests several means by which restitution may be made. (GR)

This article presents descriptive data on almost 20,000 substantiated cases of child abuse/neglect which occurred over a 6-year period in U.S. Air Force families. The paper discusses annual percentage increases in child maltreatment reports, substantiation rates for abuse, programs serving military personnel and families, and offenders' and…

A study illustrates how legal sanction promotes a culture that transforms suicide into assisted suicide and encourages choosing death when faced with serious illness. The question of extending legal euthanasia to those not physically ill complicates the issue. Also, doctors may feel they can end a terminally-ill patient's life without consent.…

Reports on the knowledge of Israeli high school students about the strength of seven different types of alcoholic beverages. Low rates of correct responses were found, especially among females. The strength of distilled spirits was more accurately estimated and that of light beer less accurately estimated. Implications for prevention are…

Suggests that one way to counteract the negative effects of violence on Head Start children is to employ a program of early prevention education. Describes NHSA's Partnership Project to expand the mental health component at Head Start sites, noting five issues that must be addressed: approach, adequate staffing, referral process, accessibility,…

This article is concerned with classroom related reasons for dropping-out from the adult English-as-a-Second-Language classroom. It presents a novel method of discovering how adult students from various cultural backgrounds perceive language learning events. (18 references) (JL)

Teachers' daily interaction is a powerful influence on at-risk students. Effective dropout prevention components include positive instructional environment, enhancement of self-esteem, alternative education, absence monitoring, mentoring, parent involvement, social and health services, teen parent programs, and transition strategies. (SK)

Presents family professional with overview that highlights challenges and opportunities in the field by describing several troubling trends in family life (divorce, teenage pregnancy, domestic abuse/violence, poverty), growing diversity and complexity among families in the United States, and the importance of prevention. Emphasizes prevention,…