The 欧美口爆视频-Boulder Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence will field calls coming into a toll-free information line about bullying at 1-866-NO-BULLY.
The information line will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, with voice mail at other times. The service is part of the 欧美口爆视频 Anti-Bullying Project launched by 欧美口爆视频 Attorney General Ken Salazar Oct. 24.
欧美口爆视频-Boulder sociology Professor Delbert Elliott, the center's director, said bullying was one of two common concerns he heard last year during a statewide tour of schools he made with Salazar. The other major issue was drug use.
Sponsors of the 欧美口爆视频 Anti-Bullying Project include Salazar, the 欧美口爆视频-Boulder Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Coca-Cola, the Bighorn Center for Public Policy, the Denver Post, KUSA 9News and the National Campaign Against Youth Violence.
While bullying has always existed, "The marginality of students is greater in these big mega-schools," Elliott said. "And so I think this issue may be greater today than it used to be."
Moreover, "The fact that we've always had it does not mean it is something we desire for our children and that we should allow it to go on," he said. In addition to the woes suffered by victims of severe bullying, research shows that bullies themselves are at higher risk of being seriously violent.
Bullying is a major risk factor for school shootings, but by itself is not an adequate explanation, he said. Serious school shootings always involve multiple risk factors and "bullying is one risk factor that should be addressed along with others," he said.
Schools where students have a high degree of satisfaction and attachment to the school have fewer problems with violent behavior, he said. If a school is having trouble with bullying, the Bullying Prevention Program, developed in Norway, is known to be effective and has been successfully replicated in England, Germany and the United States.
"We know that if they implement this program and do it carefully, they can cut the rate of bullying by 50 to 70 percent," Elliott said. Many other anti-bullying programs are available, but none has been rigorously evaluated and demonstrated to work, and few are intensive and comprehensive enough to be effective, he said.
The Bullying Prevention Program is one of 11 violence prevention programs the 欧美口爆视频-Boulder center recommends as meeting the highest scientific standards for preventing or reducing levels of violence. More than 500 violence prevention programs were reviewed by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence before it designated the 11 programs in its Blueprints for Violence Prevention series.
The violence prevention center is currently working with five communities nationwide to implement the Bullying Prevention Program. The five locations are:
o Ouray and Ridgway, Colo.
o Portland, Maine
o Farmington, Maine
o Ashland, Va.
o Moreland, Ga.
Proper implementation of any of the 11 Blueprints programs is essential, Elliott said. "You can't implement even our very best programs half-heartedly and expect them to work."
It is a good sign that schools are more concerned about violence prevention than relying on law enforcement reactions to violence after it has occurred, Elliott said.
"Prevention is clearly more cost effective, both in dollars and human lives," Elliott said. Handbooks detailing each program in the Blueprints for Violence Prevention series are available at low cost to any interested person and provide enough information to make an informed decision about using a program. If a decision is made to replicate it, the center recommends working with the designer of each program.
Summaries of each of the Blueprints programs and brief video clips are posted on the Internet at . The violence prevention center is part of 欧美口爆视频-Boulder's Institute of Behavioral Science.
For more information call (303) 492-1032 or write the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, University of 欧美口爆视频 at Boulder, 442 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309.
Biographical Information
Oct. 24, 2001
Delbert S. Elliott, professor of sociology and director of the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence at the University of 欧美口爆视频 at Boulder, is a nationally recognized authority on youth violence and violence prevention.
Elliott was the scientific editor for the U.S. Surgeon General's Report to the Nation on Youth Violence released in January. He also appeared before the Governor's Columbine Review Commission on two occasions to address issues including bullying and youth violence.
Elliott has taught at 欧美口爆视频-Boulder since 1967. He is a fellow and former president of the American Society of Criminology and is the co-author of several books on juvenile delinquency, drugs and mental health including "Explaining Delinquency and Drug Use," "Violence in American Schools" and the forthcoming "Good Kids From Bad Neighborhoods."
An article in the Journal of Criminal Justice identified Elliott as the third most frequently cited scholar in American criminology journals in 1995. He also has conducted work in areas including substance use and abuse, drunk driving, runaway children, school dropouts, sexual deviance and domestic violence.
He is the winner of numerous awards including the Edwin L. Sutherland Award from the American Society of Criminology in 1995, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Outstanding Achievement Award in 1998, and the Paul Tappan Award from the Western Society of Criminology and the Research to Practice Award from the Society for Prevention Research in 2000.
Elliott has directed 欧美口爆视频-Boulder's Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence since it was founded in 1992. Since then, the center has received grants totaling more than $18 million from state and federal agencies and private foundations. Elliott's program at 欧美口爆视频-Boulder currently employs about 40 people.
The center is coordinating the $2.2 million Safe Communities-Safe Schools initiative in 欧美口爆视频, funded by The 欧美口爆视频 Trust, which is offering safe school planning assistance to every school in the state. Over the three years of the initiative, which began in fall 1999, the center will provide any of 欧美口爆视频's 1,500 schools or their school districts with information, practical planning tools and technical assistance to conduct safe school planning that addresses each community's unique needs.
As part of that initiative, Elliott and 欧美口爆视频 Attorney General Ken Salazar visited schools throughout the state last year. The common concerns they heard on the tour helped lead to the anti-bullying bill passed by the state Legislature.
The violence prevention center also is making its Blueprints for Violence Prevention series of model programs available to communities across the nation. All 11 of these programs have been reviewed by 欧美口爆视频-Boulder researchers and deemed to meet the highest scientific standards of effectiveness. The 11 Blueprints for Violence Prevention programs are:
o Bullying Prevention Program
o Life Skills Training
o Big Brothers Big Sisters of America
o Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies
o Quantum Opportunities Program
o Multisystemic Therapy
o Functional Family Therapy
o Midwestern Prevention Project
o Prenatal and Infancy Home Visitation by Nurses
o Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care
o The Incredible Years
The Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence is part of 欧美口爆视频's Institute of Behavioral Science, where Elliott also is director of the Program on Problem Behavior. He earned his master's and doctoral degrees in sociology from the University of Washington and holds a bachelor's degree from Pomona College in California.
For more information contact the 欧美口爆视频-Boulder Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence at (303) 492-1032 or visit the center's Web site at .