Do anti-bullying laws work? New evidence on school safety and youth violence

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• 作者：Joseph J. Sabia ; Brittany Bass
• 关键词：Bullying ; Youth violence ; Anti ; bullying laws ; School shootings
• 刊名：Journal of Population Economics
• 出版年：2017
• 出版时间：April 2017
• 年：2017
• 卷：30
• 期：2
• 页码：473-502
• 全文大小：
• 刊物主题：Population Economics; Labor Economics; Demography; Social Policy;
• 出版者：Springer Berlin Heidelberg
• ISSN：1432-1475
• 卷排序：30

文摘

This study is the first to comprehensively examine the effect of state anti-bullying laws (ABLs) on school safety and youth violence. Using existing data from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveys and the Uniform Crime Reports, and newly-collected data on school shootings, we find little evidence that the typical state ABL is effective in improving school safety and student well-being. However, this null finding masks substantial policy heterogeneity. State mandates that require school districts to implement strong, comprehensive anti-bullying policies are associated with a 7 to 13 % reduction in school violence and an 8 to 12 % reduction in bullying. In addition, our results show that strong anti-bullying policy mandates are associated with a reduction in minor teen school shooting deaths and violent crime arrests, suggesting potentially important spillover effects.