NCJ Number
218102
Journal
Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice Volume: 5 Issue: 2 Dated: April 2007 Pages: 125-146
Date Published
April 2007
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This study examined middle-school students’ willingness to report when they know someone has a weapon at school.
Abstract
The research reveals that students do feel a sense of loyalty to their classmates and friends. The loyalty might be born out of fear of retaliation or purely from the natural human notion that to “snitch” on someone is somehow wrong. Either way, students are less reluctant to inform on their friends and classmates when it can be done anonymously. The reluctance becomes magnified when the potential informer is involved in delinquent behaviors. The students indicated that they needed an adult whom they could trust to feel that they could report the presence of weapons. Although a relatively minor proportion of violence that occurs at schools involves weapons, the consequences have the potential to be devastating. In the wake of school shootings in the 1990s, schools, policymakers, and law enforcement officials searched for effective responses to identify threats. This research examined 1,957 fellow students in middle school, and their willingness to report weapons, as a potential resource for preventing weapons in schools. Tables, figure, appendix, and references