ED435894 1999-00-00 Assessing

Potentially Violent Students. ERIC

Digest.

ERIC Development Team

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Assessing Potentially Violent Students. ERIC Digest........................1

ASSESSING POTENTIALLY VIOLENT AND VIOLENT STUDENTS. 2

HIGH-RISK FACTORS........................................................ 2

ASSESSMENT GUIDELINES................................................ 5

SUMMARY....................................................................... 6

REFERENCES.................................................................. 6

ERIC Identifier: ED435894

Publication Date: 1999-00-00

Author: Juhnke, Gerald A. - Charkow, Wendy B. - Jordan, Joe - Curtis, Russell C. -

Liles, Robin G. - Gmutza, Brian M. - Adams, Jennifer R.

Source: ERIC Clearinghouse on Counseling and Student Services Greensboro NC.

Assessing Potentially Violent Students. ERIC

Digest.

THIS DIGEST WAS CREATED BY ERIC, THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

INFORMATION CENTER. FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT ERIC, CONTACT

ACCESS ERIC 1-800-LET-ERIC

Overview

ED435894 1999-00-00 Assessing Potentially Violent Students. ERIC Digest. Page 1 of 7
Although student school shootings of students have recently gained significant national

attention, more routine forms of student violence (e.g., homicide, rape, aggravated

assault, etc.) continue to plague our nation's schools and streets. These less

sensational but equally harmful violent behaviors warrant appropriate response. This

digest describes the importance of assessment and diagnosis with potentially violent

and violent students.

ASSESSING POTENTIALLY VIOLENT AND

VIOLENT STUDENTS

Firearm homicide rates for youth ages 15 to 19 increased 155% between 1987 and

1994 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/National Center for Injury Prevention

and Control, 1996); and homicide arrest rates for youth ages 14 to 17 increased 41%

between 1989 and 1994 (Fox, 1996). The most recent Violent Offense Arrests Reports

published by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) indicate that

37,323 children ages 14 and under, and 86,130 adolescents ages 15 to 17 were

arrested in 1997 for committing severe acts of violence (e.g., homicide, aggravated

assault, rape) (United States Bureau of Justice, 1999). Garbarino (1999) reports

approximately 10% of the 23,000 annual homicides in the United States are committed

by persons under age 18. Such data clearly demonstrates the need to recognize

high-risk factors which correspond to potentially violent students.

HIGH-RISK FACTORS

Adequate assessment is vital to the counseling process and critical to the establishment

of pertinent treatment goals and objectives. This is especially true when counseling

potentially violent and violent students. These students typically present a number of

common risk factors (Dwyer, Osher, & Warger, 1998) which can be readily identified via

a clinical interview process (Supervisory Special Agent Eugene A. Rugala, personal

communication, August 31, 1998). These high-risk factors are indicated below with a

brief summary suggesting their reason for inclusion.

Violent Drawings or Writings. Violent students often indicate their intentions before

acting violently via drawings or writings. Counselors learning of such violent drawings or

writings should not easily dismiss such violent expressions. Violent poems, letters to

friends, or letters to the intended victim are clear indications of violent potential. Hence,

further assessment is warranted whenever a student uses age inappropriate violent

drawings or writings.

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Threats of Violence Towards Others. Any threat of violence towards others should be

immediately assessed and appropriate intervention actions should be taken to insure

safety. Direct threats such as, "I'm going to kill him" as well as veiled threats such as,

"Something big is going to happen to you after school" clearly are inappropriate and

warrant immediate assessment and intervention. Threats should be assessed for: (a)

lethality, (b) the degree to which a violent plan exists, and (c) the student's ability to

secure the indicated weapon or harm instrument (e.g., poison, automobile). Any threat

indicated by a student which is realistic, well planned, and highly lethal should be

considered viable.

Past Violent Behaviors or Aggressive History. Students who have been violent in the

past or have demonstrated aggressive behaviors towards others are at greater risk of

repeating such behaviors. Thus, these students are noted as being at greater risk for

future violent behaviors.

Animal Torturing. There exists a high correlation between students who torture animals

and violence. Students who regularly torture animals or intentionally inflict harm upon

animals should be assessed for violent ideation towards others.

Recent Relationship Break. Students who have recently experienced a relationship

break (e.g., being jilted by a girlfriend or best friend) have an increased likelihood of

being violent.

Isolation. The vast majority of students who isolate themselves from peers or who

appear friendless typically are not violent. However, one high-risk factor which has been

strongly correlated with violent behaviors towards school peers is isolation. For this

reason, students isolating themselves or reporting feelings of being isolated from others

should be considered at greater risk.

Teased or Perceptions of Being Teased, Harassed, or "Picked On". Violent students

often have a hypersensitivity toward criticism. These students report perceptions of

being teased, harassed or being picked on by those they were violent toward.

Therefore, students indicating feelings that they are being teased, harassed, or "picked

on" should be assessed to determine whether or not they either intend to harm or

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ED435894 1999-00-00 Assessing Potentially Violent Students. ERIC Digest. Page 3 of 7
fantasize about harming others.

Social Withdrawal. Withdrawal from peers and familial supports can indicate the student

is experiencing any of a number of concerns (e.g., depression, helplessness) which

warrant assessment and intervention. When combined with other risk factors, social

withdrawal may signal potential violence toward others.

Inappropriate Use or Access to Firearms. Students who inappropriately use firearms by

shooting at people, homes, or vehicles or have improper, unsupervised firearm access

have a clear potential to harm others and act violently. No student should be allowed to

posses a gun or weapon on school property or at school-related functions (e.g., dances,

sporting events, etc.). Given the general impulsiveness of students and the dangers of

immediate access to lethal weapons, this factor is one of the most important which

should be assessed.

Substance Abuse. Although substance abuse does not cause students to be violent,

students under the influence of psychoactive substances often fail to think logically and

experience increased impulsivity. Thus, there exists a strong correlation between

substance abuse and violent behaviors.

Familial Stressors. Familial stressors can engender feelings of frustration, anger, and

hopelessness among students as well as adults.

Noted by Peers as Being "Different". On many occasions after student violence, peers

and others will note that the perpetrating student was labeled as being "different" from

peers or being associated with some group. Hence, students frequently labeled by

peers as being "weird", "strange", "geeky", etc. may be at increased risk for violent

behaviors.

Low School Interest. The genesis of this risk factor could come from any of a multitude

of reasons which by themselves may not evoke violent behaviors. However, in

combination with other possible violence related risk factors noted within this scale,

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students presenting with low school interest may have an inability to perform as well as

they desire to and may feel frustrated by such inability. Additionally, these students may

perceive themselves as belittled by those performing more favorably. Thus, when

challenged to increase performance or when feeling harassed by those performing at

higher levels, these students may become violent. For these reasons, this factor has

been included.

ASSESSMENT GUIDELINES

Some of the above noted individual risk factors warrant immediate attention even if

other risk factors are not present and the student is not perceived as violent. For

example, any student experiencing symptomatology resulting from substance abuse or

dependence warrants immediate treatment. Additionally, students inappropriately using

firearms pose a significant danger to others and warrant intervention as well.

Furthermore, any student making violent threats towards others should be required to

complete a psychological assessment process and parental conferencing. Although

these steps will not prevent all forms of violence from students threatening violent

behaviors, they are a means to provide a reasonable safety standard and undoubtedly

will help insulate the counselor and school system from potential liability.

Other individual risk factors are unlikely to identify potentially violent students. These

risk factors by themselves without the presence of other noted risk factors have a high

probability of providing false positive evaluations. Here, for example, single risk factors

such as Low School Interest or Noted by Peers as Being "Different" would incorrectly

identify many nonviolent students as having significant potential for violence.

Instead, counselors, teachers, and mental health professionals within the schools

should look for multiple high-risk factors. Thus, a student who indicates: (a) low school

interest, (b) feelings of being isolated, (c) a recent significant relationship break, and (d)

specific verbal threats towards a peer, should be considered at risk and minimally

warrants a thoroughly assessment with a planned intervention. A student with an

abundance of the 13 identified risk factors suggests someone experiencing significant

environmental turmoil and emotional stressors. These students are at significant risk of

violence towards peers and are unlikely to function adequately without direct

intervention. Those at this extreme end of the risk continuum warrant immediate

removal from the general school environment and a structured living environment (e.g.,

specialized foster care, group home, inpatient psychiatric hospital, etc.) to insure safety

to peers and self. Parents should be contacted and a formal evaluation for a structured

living and learning environment should occur when an abundance of the risk factors are

noted. Should the student be deemed an immediate danger to self or others and the

parents be unwilling to appropriately support evaluation for a more structured living and

learning environment, child protective services should likely be notified. In many cases

child protective services can intervene to insure the child is placed in a safe

environment until the immediate danger to self or others disappears.

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ED435894 1999-00-00 Assessing Potentially Violent Students. ERIC Digest. Page 5 of 7
SUMMARY

Student violence is a very real danger. Undoubtedly, these 13 risk factors by

themselves will not identify every violent student. However, the risk factors can be

readily used by school counselors and other school mental health professionals as an

aid in assessing students at risk of violence.

REFERENCES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/National Center for Injury Prevention and

Control (1996). National summary of injury mortality data, 1987-1994, Atlanta, GA:

Authors.

Dwyer, K., Osher, D., & Warger, C. (1998). Early warning, timely response: A guide to

safe schools. Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists (ED418372).

Fox, J. A. (1996). Trends in juvenile violence: A report to the United States Attorney

General on current and future rates of juvenile offending. Washington, DC: Department

of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Garbarino, J. (1999). Lost boys: Why our sons turn violent and how we can save them.

New York, NY: The Free Press.

United States Bureau of Justice. (1999). Report on violent offense arrests by age,

1970-97, [On-line]. Available: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/crimoff.htm#data

This publication was prepared with funding from the Office of Educational Research and

Improvement, U.S. Department of Education. The ideas and opinions expressed in the

Digest do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of OERI, ED, or the

Clearinghouse. This Digest is in the public domain and may be freely reproduced

Title: Assessing Potentially Violent Students. ERIC Digest.

Document Type: Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs)

(071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073);

Available From: ERIC Counseling and Student Services Clearinghouse, University of

North Carolina at Greensboro, 201 Ferguson Building, P.O. Box 26171, Greensboro,

NC 27402-6171. Tel: 336-334-4114; Tel: 800-414-9769 (Toll Free); Fax: 336-334-4116;

e-mail: ericcass@uncg.edu; Web site: http://ericcass.uncg.edu.

Descriptors: Educational Environment, Evaluation, Guidelines, High Risk Students,

Prevention, Violence

Identifiers: ERIC Digests

###

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