NCJ Number
76704
Journal
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS BULLETIN Volume: 61 Issue: 409 Dated: (May 1977) Pages: 85-97
Date Published
1977
Length
13 pages
Annotation
The article examines the rising epidemic of juvenile crime and suggests that stricter enforcement of laws and total cooperation between the schools and the police is necessary to control or prevent such crime.
Abstract
A prosecuting attorney in Oakland County, Mich., addresses educators on their rights to promulgate and enforce school rules regarding student conduct and outlines their responsibilities as parents, educators, and concerned citizens in the prevention, apprehension, and deterrence of juvenile crime. Administrators are assured that their right to make school rules, even when they seem to abridge fundamental rights of free speech and privacy, are valid if it can be shown that the student exercise of those rights might disrupt the school program or that the rules have a reasonable relationship to the educational process. In view of the incredible rise in juvenile crime (1,600 percent in 20 years), administrators are urged as parents, educators, and concerned citizens to attend Federal Commerce Commission license renewal hearings to demand that violence on television be abridged or eliminated. They are urged to make a commitment that violent activities in the school be pursued and punished and to establish a school-police liaison. Cooperation with the police in dealing with vandalism, theft, arson, and drug and substance abuse is emphasized. Parental involvement through parental responsibility laws and recovery programs should also be encouraged, and student codes that prohibit alcohol and other substances on school grounds by anyone of any age should be strictly enforced. Teaching responsibility through accountability is one way to deal with the juvenile crime problem.