Study says harassment causes youth violence

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Study says harassment causes youth violence

Tuesday, April 11, 2000

By CANDY HATCHER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Relentless teasing and harassment at school leaves children "bruised inside," a 13-year-old Tacoma girl told state officials when they asked recently what caused youth violence.

Shootings, stabbings and assaults are a horrible reality, but "there is another kind of violence," said seventh-grader Shaunte Nance. "Violence by talking. It can leave you hurting more than a cut with a knife."

A national report released yesterday -- "Bruised Inside" -- describes harassment by peers as one of two precipitators for kids using guns, knives and fists to express anger.

The National Association of Attorneys General found that the most important factor in preventing youth violence was a stable, loving home. But the report also detailed repeated bullying and harassment simply because students wore unusual clothing or were taller shorter or heavier than other kids.

Violent behavior doesn't come from violent movies or video games or music, the report showed. Graphic displays may desensitize children to violence, but "if you come from a loving home," one student said, "you're not going to go out and shoot people and stuff."

Students contributing to the report said they need someone to teach them what's right and what's important. They need someone to listen to them, give them sound advice, set boundaries and provide discipline. Mostly, they said, they need to feel they belong.

The students also said they need help learning to respect each other's differences. They must stop the teasing, taunting and harassment that causes some teenagers to drop out, others to change schools, and still others to retaliate with violence.

"We as adults have underestimated the bullying, the 'dissing,'" Washington Attorney General Christine Gregoire said yesterday in Seattle. "The consequences are Columbine, Springfield . . ."

Under ideal conditions, guidance counselors would identify students who need help, who feel threatened or alone. But "counselors are the first things to go" in a budget crunch, said Robert Cooper, principal of McIllvaigh Middle School in Tacoma.

Gregoire said lawmakers have not acknowledged what students and school administrators stressed yesterday: That preventing violence means paying attention to children before they turn to crime.

Legislatures have been slow to recognize the need for more guidance counselors and after-school programs. And Congress' answer to youth violence is a bill that would authorize more money to build juvenile detention centers, more prosecutorial power to charge teenagers as adults and more severe punishment for children who commit crimes.

"Building more detention centers, putting something on a wall -- those kinds of fixes are not going to solve this problem," Gregoire said.

P-I reporter Candy Hatcher can be reached at 206-448-8320 or candyhatcher@seattle-pi.com