This is a reprint of chapter 10 from "New Directions From the Field: Victims' Rights and Service for the 21st Century." It notes that due to the extent of crime in schools and on campuses, a number of schools have established victim service programs that offer crisis intervention counseling and stress-reaction training as well as curricula on victim assistance and violence prevention. Further, the educational community has a responsibility to prevent crime and ensure the safety of students and school staff. Thirteen recommendations focus on ways to improve school victim services. First, schools should establish comprehensive programs to assist students, faculty, and staff who are victimized by crime or witness violence; these programs should be coordinated with local crime victim assistance programs and police agencies. Second, schools should incorporate into their core curricula age-appropriate education about the impact of victimization, the availability of victims services, and victim rights information. Third, crime-prevention strategies should be taught to students in every grade, beginning in preschool. Fourth, schools should implement procedures to help identify missing and exploited children who may be enrolled in their educational systems. Other recommendations pertain to sexual-assault and dating-violence awareness, interdisciplinary credit courses on victim issues, and the adoption of sexual assault and dating violence protocol that include clear definitions of proscribed conduct. 25 notes
New Directions From the Field: Victims' Rights and Services for the 21st Century- Education Community
NCJ Number
172821
Date Published
1998
Length
15 pages
Annotation
Following an overview of crimes in schools and on campuses, this paper reviews existing school programs of victim services and recommends ways for schools to improve such services.
Abstract