Searching for safe schools: Legal issues in the prevention of school violence

Violence in the United States has reached epidemic proportions, with a pred ictable spillover into public schools. The national concern over the proble m of school violence has led to federal, state, and local efforts to addres s this issue by creating new laws and policies. which include adopting zero -tolerance approaches, conducting targeted and random searches of students and their property, using metal detectors, and preventing violence through education. In this article, we begin by examining these laws and policies. Then, we separate school district reactions to violence into three categori es: tertiary, secondary, and primary prevention and describe procedures wit hin each category. We end by proposing a framework within which school dist ricts may develop legally correct policies and procedures to address school violence.