Court TV Host: Chat about school shootings with University of Virginia psychologist Dewey Cornell, director of the Virginia Youth Violence Project and author of the book "School Violence: Fears Versus Facts."

Court TV Host: Welcome, Professor Cornell, thanks for being our guest online today.

Dewey Cornell: Glad to be here! The recent school shootings have aroused a lot of fear and concern. There have been news reports that school violence is increasing. Parents are worried that their children will not be safe. Yesterday a group of superintendents told me they were worried. What I want to emphasize is that 2-3 cases do not make a trend. We have 119,000 public schools in the U.S. The larger national trends are down, not up. Whenever we hear about a terrible crime, it creates the perception that it is increasing. Studies show that school homicides and violence in general has been declining for ten years. This is the good news that you never hear about.

Question from kiara: It seems that the Amish shooting incident was unpredictable....there is no way that could have been prevented....any thoughts?

Dewey Cornell: The Amish shooting could have been prevented, but not necessarily by school authorities. Most of these types of crimes are the result of planning and preparation. During this planning period the perpetrator often reveals his or her intentions. While I do not know enough about the Amish shooting, we see in most cases that there are signs to identify intent. Invariably, these cases are more complex and have more history than news reports can tell us.

Question from NH-JULIE: Professor Cornell, Why doesn't the media report what you are saying? It seems to me that the media would report that school homicides and violence in general has been declining for ten years when they report the murders? Is it the MEDIA that is creating all of this hysteria?

Dewey Cornell: Violence and fear is more interesting than facts.

Question from eowyn: Doesn't the media help create alarmists with their reporting of school shootings? I mean, I think we do more danger by getting behind the wheel each day than our children going to school.

Dewey Cornell: They have reported these stats, but they don't gain much attention. You are right that there is more danger driving to school than being in school. Schools are safer than homes, statistically. We have over 2,000 children murdered each year in the U.S. Only about a dozen or so are murdered at school. If the media gave equal attention to every shooting in a restaurant, we would soon start fearing restaurants. We would talk about "restaurant violence." We would talk about "restaurant shooters." And unfortunately, some deranged and troubled individuals would be inspired to carry out restaurant shootings.

Question from tara: Mr. Cornell, I get your saying that school is relatively safe, but how do we prepare our kids for that 'one' time it may not be?

Dewey Cornell: If you want to prepare your child for a one in a million event, why start with schools? In my book on school violence, fears versus facts, I calculated how often the typical school will have a student killer. If you take the ten worst years, there were about 9.3 student killings per year. If you divide that by 119,000 schools, the odds of it happening are remote. The average school can expect a student to kill someone at school every 12,000 years. Prepare your child for lightening to strike, or a hurricane or an earthquake. We do have a problem, however, with students making threats and students who are frightened.. We do need to talk with students about violence, but not necessarily the extreme kinds we hear about in the news. After Columbine, students began to make huge numbers of threats.

Question from steph: So you are saying not to prepare?

Dewey Cornell: The question is, prepare for what? Students will encounter fights, bullying, teasing, drugs, etc. in school. We need to focus our time and energy and school security dollars on the problems that we face every day, not the fears of things that are so remote. Some schools need more security than others. Some schools need locked doors because the neighborhood is dangerous. We cannot generalize to all schools because of the unusual, extreme cases. We need to look at the needs of each school, factually and objectively, and see what security needs that school has.

Court TV Host: The type of school shooting that we saw in Pennsylvania on Monday, or at Columbine, might be rare, but is *violence* in schools rare? I think our societal perceptions are that school violence is NOT rare - are we wrong on that?

Dewey Cornell: The National Crime Victimization survey has been measuring violence in the US for decades. This is a nationally representative sample with standard measurement. These studies consistently show that the most serious forms of violence are lower in school than other settings, and declining. However, petty larceny and less serious violence - shoving and pushing and hitting - are a bit more common in schools. We DO have a lot of bullying at school.

Question from kiara: With all due respect, you seem to be minimizing the effect of these school shootings...what about the post-traumatic effects on these kids who witnessed the horror?

Dewey Cornell: There is no question that these shootings are terrible tragedies. I worked in the aftermath of several shootings. I know that these shootings have terrible effects that last many years, if not for a lifetime. However, coping with a traumatic event is a different subject than helping others prepare for the possibility of that event happening to them, too.

Question from NH-JULIE: Professor Cornell, were there any elementary, middle, or high school shootings in the 70's or 80's?

Question from NH-JULIE: Professor Cornell, How many School shootings were there in the 80's vs. 90's?

Dewey Cornell: We don't have good stats, but school shootings were highest in 1993-94 and declined thereafter. In 1979 a girl in San Diego opened fire on an elementary school. She killed the principal, and the custodian, and wounded 8 students and a police officer. She is still in prison to this day. We didn't start tracking school shootings until the 90s.

Question from eowyn: Do you think it's appropriate to warn young children about school violence, ages 5-9?

Dewey Cornell: School violence can mean anything from rampage shootings to bullying on the playground. I do not want to frighten kids, but they should have some basic ground rules. They should be leery of anyone with a gun or knife, and report it immediately. They should not tolerate bullying. Children should participate in programs to reduce bullying, which is the form of violence that is often the seedbed for more serious violence.

Question from NicNYC: What school-based prevention methods are effective?

Dewey Cornell: There are lots. There have been over 200 controlled studies of school based violence prevention. The average effective program reduces violence such as fighting by about 50%. The most effective programs include counseling, cognitive behavior therapy, conflict resolution, training, social skills training. No single program has been found to be the best. There are some programs that don't work, too. Unfortunately, the programs found to be ineffective are often popular and widely used. Scared Straight does not work. Research over many years repeatedly finds that DARE does not reduce drug use or violence. School uniforms do not work. I review the evidence for what works and what does not work in my book.

Question from steph: I have had contact with school authorities regarding bullies. Besides suspension there seems to be nothing authorities can do, what do you say?

Question from steph: How can a kid say, "I will not tolerate this bullying"? Authorities say they can do little about it.

Dewey Cornell: There is lots that you can do about bullying. There are effective bullying prevention programs. The Olweus bullying prevention program is an example. One student alone cannot do much, but the whole school should address the problem. Teachers and parents and students need to be educated about bullying. It should be part of the curriculum that we do not bully others. Bullies can be referred for counseling, as well as disciplined. I have worked with a middle school for five years on bullying prevention. At the outset, 15% of students reported being bullied regularly in the past month. For the last year, only 3% report being bullied in the past month. The school climate has changed. Students feel safer and more accepted. Just because we have all know bullying since we were kids, does not mean it is inevitable.

Question from tara: Mr. Cornell , how can the schools keep students from bringing in weapons? Metal detectors?

Question from eowyn: Do police presence and metal detectors help keep violent acts down?

Dewey Cornell: I think there is a positive role for law enforcement in school. Officers who can work with kids can be good role models and prevent problems. Metal detectors only if there is a problem that cannot be addressed otherwise.

Court TV Host: Any closing thoughts?

Dewey Cornell: Let me mention one problem that has not come up. The common element in all the rampage acts of multiple homicide is the gun used to commit the murders. Access to firearms is a huge factor in juvenile murder. I know the NRA says "guns don't kill, people kill." But this is only half true. The rest of the story is that people with guns kill a lot more people than people without guns. Guns are a risk factor for violence, particularly with youth. Until we can legally regulate gun access, we will continue to have a murder rate that is 5 -10 higher than other countries. I have been contacted by news reporters all over the world. They are uniformly amazed at our murder rate. And they always ask me why we allow so many guns in our society.

Court TV Host: Thank you very much for being our guest online today.