School violence is a matter of public concern, especially when tragic school shootings begin to occur every year. Although school violence appears to occur very often, the risk of such violence is often much higher than the reality of a violent event occurring. This implies that schools implement effective strategies as a whole to prevent school violence from occurring. However, many schools in the United States are prone to problems when it comes to school violence and creating a safe school environment. Safety should be a top priority in every school as our children are subject to the safety regulations enforced by the schools they attend. Progress has been made in monitoring issues relating to school violence and school safety. There is currently no standard set of established indicators to designate violence in schools. Existing school violence indicators have significant limitations. An example can be seen from data from the National Crime Victimization Survey which describes the number of students who were victims of crime in a school (Small 2011). This information does not provide school-based results that provide a more accurate understanding of the type of schools experiencing the highest level of crime. Another problem when it comes to examining issues related to the topic of school violence is that of schools not using the same definitions for incidents that occur (Smalls 2011). This causes a problem when researchers pool data on school violence across many schools. Furthermore, students who provide self-assessments are usually high school students, meaning that these students ... middle of paper ... suburban environments feel socially or economically better (higher) than others or race and race . ethnic groups different from them. School violence is a problem that cannot be solved independently; rather it must be resolved collaboratively over time. We need to come up with new, creative ideas to solve the problem of school violence and prevent it from endangering the lives of our children. There are many types of violence, some more serious than others, but it should be a common goal to eliminate not only school shootings, but also nonfatal crimes and all types of school-related violence (Black 2000). While there will always be evil in the world we live in, hopefully one day our school systems will become a haven for our children in such a way that we feel completely confident in the safety of our beloved children..