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Testimony of Chief Butch Asselin September 28, 2004 Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: Thank you for the opportunity to testify today on school safety. My name is Butch Asselin. I've been in law enforcement for nearly thirty years, and I’ve spent the past 7 years as police chief of the Skowhegan Police Department in Maine. During the past year, I served as President of the Maine Chiefs of Police Association. I am also a member of the anti-crime group Fight Crime: Invest in Kids—more than 2,000 police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors, and victims of violence from across the country who have come together to take a hard-nosed look at what really works to prevent school and youth violence and keep kids from becoming criminals. To help ensure that kids are safe at school, I strongly support criminal history background checks on individuals seeking employment in schools. However, today, I would like to focus on a widespread, critical safety issue in our nation’s schools that demands the urgent attention of Congress. Bullying affects one out of three children in sixth through tenth grades and can lead to violent crime and death. A national survey found that nearly one in six American children in sixth through tenth grade—more than 3.2 million children—are victims of bullying each year, while 3.7 million bully other children. When bullies are allowed to progress through school without their intimidating and violent behavior being addressed, they often become a danger not only to the school, but also to the whole community. A survey found that the most serious bullies were seven times more likely to carry a weapon to school. Furthermore, the more serious bullies were also three-and-a-half times more likely to have been in a fight where they sustained an injury serious enough to require treatment by a nurse or doctor. Bullying is an early warning that bullies may be headed toward more serious antisocial behavior including violent crime. A study found that 40 percent of boys who were bullies in grades six through nine had three or more criminal convictions by the age of 24. Moreover, victims of repeated bullying can explode in ways that threaten not just the bullies but many others as well. Experts from the Secret Service were called in to help develop profiles of the Columbine and other school shooters. They found that most of the shooters had been bullied before choosing to attack their perceived tormentors. The Secret Service experts reported: "Almost three-quarters of the attackers felt persecuted, bullied, threatened, attacked or injured by others prior to the incident." In addition, one study found that boys who were frequently bullied were four times more likely to be suicidal, while frequently bullied girls were eight times more likely to be suicidal. Fortunately, there are programs that are proven to reduce bullying in schools. The Olweus Bullying Prevention Program has been implemented in several hundred schools in the United Sates and around the world. This program includes: a school survey to determine the prevalence of bullying; training for all school personnel; a bullying prevention coordinating committee to implement the program; school rules prohibiting bullying and appropriate consequences; adequate adult supervision of specific areas where bullying is likely to take place including hallways, lunchrooms, and playgrounds; class meetings to discuss the problem of bullying; and meetings with bullies, their parents and school staff, and meetings with victims, their parents, and school staff. The Olweus Bullying Prevention Program produced a 50 percent reduction of bullying in Norway and a 20 percent reduction when it was replicated in South Carolina. There were also lower rates of school misbehavior, vandalism, and general delinquency for the students enrolled in the bullying prevention program compared to students who did not receive the program. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration have recognized the Olweus Bullying Prevention approach as a model program. Five years ago, the nation watched in horror as two students killed 12 classmates and a teacher before taking their own lives at Columbine High School. The Columbine shootings were a shock to our collective conscience. Never before had parents, especially in quiet suburbs, so questioned their kids’ safety in school. Now, five years later, school violence continues to occur. In the aftermath of Columbine and other school shootings, America can no longer view bullying as simply one of the rites of passage kids must endure. Bullying is a ticking time bomb in our schools and our society. Before more children are harmed, killed, or take their own lives, Congress should facilitate the implementation of research-proven bullying prevention programs throughout our nation’s schools. I am pleased that Representative John Shimkus, along with Representative Danny Davis, has introduced a bipartisan bullying prevention bill, H.R. 4776, which would amend the Safe and Drug Free Schools Act to add several bullying prevention-related provisions. This bill would encourage schools receiving funding to implement key components of the Olweus Bullying Prevention program. I urge Congress to move Representative Shimkus’s bill to enactment. This Committee can further help make us all safer by strengthening early childhood education, child abuse and neglect prevention, and after-school programs. Research confirms what law enforcement leaders know from our firsthand experience: such programs dramatically reduce crime and violence. I request that the School and Youth Violence Prevention Plan, as well as the "Bullying Prevention Is Crime Prevention" report of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids be entered into this hearing’s record. Thank you for this opportunity to present our views on how your Committee can enhance school safety. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have. |