
Teen Violence
Jack Hilton
Murder. Suicide. Bullying. Fights. Teen violence is a huge issue in schools and off campus, since a simple fight can lead to death. About 877, Teens ages 10 to 24 were injured from violent acts. Approximately 1 in 13 required hospitalization.
Columbine High School was once an ordinary school until an incident happened which changed the lives of many people, when there was a mass murder-suicide. Dylan Klebold and Erick Harris, the shooters, killed many victims.
Teen violence is just about everywhere in every school. Sophomore Ruben Timothy encountered a fight among seven students after school on his way home.
“This kid just came up from behind this other kid and placed him in a headlock and punched him,” explained Timothy.
At Coral Gables High, a student was killed because of a love triangle between the suspect Andy Jesus Rodriguez and the victim Juan Carlos Rivera. Rivera was stabbed in three different locations including his chest, collarbone and kidney.
A teacher at South Plantation witnessed a fight in her 7th period classroom which involved two female students.
“Where does all this anger come from? The issue is anger and not being able to work through it,” the teacher said.
The teacher believes that students should have consequences, including the ones that just watch, because she believes they are just as guilty, even though they are not the one throwing the punches. The bystanders are encouraging the rage in the violence making the situation worse, and get the teens angrier and more violent.
Officer Ken Gomez believes that locking the lockers; lock out, separating the lunches and having constant visibility over the students has helped reduce teen violence at South Plantation High.
“The experience of our security staff is high; we all almost have fifty years of school security, with Smitty, Snell, Fair and I, we have all been here for a long time,” Gomez adds.
“I think teen violence is mostly due to people being worried about their self image, they want to be "cool" so if they're "dissed" or feel as if their image is being tarnished, they have to rectify the situation by establishing their dominance over people. It's all about making sure people are happy with who they are, If there is some way to improve that quality in people, whether it is through a class in elementary or middle school to teach about these problems, I think the steps definitely need to be taken,” explains college freshman David Arbogast.



