Lecture addresses school violence
With increasing violence in schools and amongst juveniles, a professor from California University of Pennsylvania said figuring out how to identify which types of students is the biggest threats. Dr. Emily Sweitzer said that it’s equally important to figure out how to diffuse the aggression by recognizing it, and finding an outlet for it.
Sweitzer spoke at a recent training forum geared toward helping the volunteer Youth Commission members determine if there was a serious potential for trouble.
The commission, sponsored by the Fayette County Juvenile Probation Office, has been utilizing volunteers from most of the county’s school districts to help first-time, non-violent juvenile offenders have a second chance.
The program is akin to the accelerated rehabilitative disposition program offered to adult offenders. It gives juveniles a chance to serve a probationary term, which, if served successfully, will wipe their record clean.
Sweitzer said that levels of aggression are determined by someone’s ability to handle conflict. When that ability is poor, she said it is important to intervene at a low level.
Boys are more likely to exhibit aggression than girls, Sweitzer said, but not much more.
“Females are catching up at a significant rate with physical, hostile aggression,” she said.
So what factors can contribute to aggression? A lot of things, some obvious, some less so, Sweitzer said.
The more obvious causes can be frustration and provocation, she said.
Pain, heat, humidity, foul odors and having physical or personal space be confined can all be factors. To put it in context, Sweitzer asked participants to think about whether they ever had been stuck in a small elevator or confined space with someone who has body odor.
The feeling can prompt aggression.
Sweitzer said that riots are more likely to occur on hot days because the heat can be such an irritant.
Sweitzer said there are different types of aggression.
As an example, she said football requires aggression to score. On the other hand, hockey is a sport where aggression equals hostility. While contact is part of the game, fighting – which many hockey fans love to see – is not, she said.
The hockey-type aggression, more in-your-face and resulting from frustration, is typically a male aggression, Sweitzer said.
The football-type aggression, more goal-oriented in its development, is more typically what women and girls show, she said.
Sweitzer said there are several key factors in whether a juvenile will become violent enough to kill. She listed them as societal influences, resource availability, personality traits and situational factors.
Included in situational factors are things like child abuse or neglect and the absence of a positive male role model, she said.
“A male role model is extremely important to curb aggression,” Sweitzer said.
She said most violent juveniles often have above average intelligence and do well on verbal intelligence tests and have some form of post traumatic stress disorder from either having things happen to them, or seeing things happen.
The most violent juveniles – school shooters – have uncontrollable anger, depression, threaten violence and more than half have written about or produced violent drawings.
Unfortunately, many times, the writings or drawings aren’t found until after the juvenile has perpetrated violence, Sweitzer said. Many times, such shooters directly communicated their plans to kill, Sweitzer said, but they are not taken seriously.
“You have to take everything said somewhat seriously,” she said.
She also said that one of the big motivating factors for school shooters is a desire to achieve fame.
While there are several factors that can exclude a student from being violent, one of the most important of those is for the juvenile to find a way to express how he or she feels, or to have an escape, Sweitzer said.
“You see kids with piercings on in the elevator, and tattoos all over them, they’re probably the safest to be around. They’ve expressed it (their feelings). Everyone else is holding it in,” Sweitzer said. “Those who keep it in are the ones you have to keep the eye on.”
To gauge where a child is, Sweitzer said adults should talk to them, asking open-ended questions. But instead of asking a juvenile how they are feeling, she suggested asking more specific questions like how he or she is sleeping or eating, and avoid questions that involve clinical terms.
Sweitzer said a zero-tolerance policy by itself is not the answer.
“There has to be room for judgment,” she said.
Instead, a plan that specifies expectations, having a consensus of behavioral expectations, an emphasis on prevention and the development of specific procedures and policies to respond to minor and major infractions are good tools to implement, she said.
The Youth Commission is always looking for volunteers. Anyone who wants more information can call Mike Lukac, program coordinator, at 724-430-1223, extensive 423.