Serious violence at school

In the light of the shooting outrage at Jokela School, in Finland, in 2007, in
which eight people were shot to death, and following on from other serious
violent offences at schools, the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention
(Brå) was instructed by the Department of Education to conduct an investigation into serious violent crime at Swedish schools. The focus of the National Council's report is therefore directed at violence that commonly results in physical injury. The Swedish Government has instructed a number of other agencies to disseminate knowledge on programmes to combat bullying and other forms of humiliating treatment. The Government instructed the National Council for Crime Prevention to address the following three areas.

1. A quantitative examination of serious school violence. This section of the report begins by presenting the findings from previous Swedish studies of serious violence in schools. The principal focus is directed however at new analyses of data from a variety of sources which describe the extent of and trends over time in serious violence at school. One of the important questions addressed is that of what characterises the incidents of serious school violence that have taken place in Sweden.
2. International experiences of preventing serious school violence. The National Council's review of the research literature illuminates what the research says about the possibilities for preventing the most serious incidents of school violence in the form of school shootings. The review also describes what the research literature has to say about the links between bullying and school violence and about the possibilities for preventing serious violence at school.
   
3. Swedish schools’ view of serious school violence. The third area focused on by the National Council relates to the prevention work which is being carried out in Swedish schools today. On the basis of questionnaires and interviews, we look at how students and others in the school system assess the way violent incidents are dealt with, examining the obstacles, possibilities and needs for preventive measures that different groups identify on the basis of their roles within the school system.