Bullying and school crime are important social problems that are receiving increased attention by scholars and policy makers. However, several critical questions remain unaddressed. First, does the public perceive bullying as a serious problem and judge schools-primary, secondary, and postsecondary-as safe or unsafe? Second, does the public use a "bullying lens" to judge school safety-that is, do citizens understand bullying as a serious threat to students' well-being? Third, are there racial differences in these perceptions? Prior research identifies racial differences in the prevalence of bullying, as well as in students' views of school safety and citizens' fear of crime. Similar racial gaps may characterize public perceptions of bullying and school safety. This study begins to illuminate answers to these questions by analyzing data from a representative sample of Virginians. Multivariate regression analyses produce several notable findings. First, we find that members of the public believe bullying in schools is an increasingly serious problem, and their perceptions of bullying influence their judgments of whether schools and colleges/universities are safe. Second, Black members of the public are more likely than persons from other racial and ethnic backgrounds to perceive that bullying is increasing and is a serious problem in schools, and, in turn, to judge that schools and universities are less safe. Our results indicate that members of the public see bullying as a principal threat to student safety. They suggest there is a strong reservoir of public support for antibullying initiatives and, more broadly, efforts to increase student safety.

Studies have shown that adolescents’ involvement in bullying (as perpetrators, victims, or both) is related to more negative outcomes than noninvolvement, and a small subset of studies has connected bullying to the specific outcome of gang involvement. However, most of these studies have been cross-sectional and have not examined causal pathways by which bullying and gang involvement may be related. Furthermore, some studies find sex differences in prevalence, type, and outcomes of bullying as well as in the relationship between bullying and gang involvement, suggesting important prevention implications, yet this remains under examined. Our study explicitly examines these issues identifying the overlap in bullying outcomes with antecedent gang risk factors, and suggesting potential direct and indirect effects of bullying on gang involvement; we test these relationships, and potential sex differences, using longitudinal data from the second National Evaluation of Gang Resistance Education and Training to overcome limitations of prior research. Consistent with our expectations, we find that (1) bully-victims exhibit the highest levels of risk; (2) bullies, victims, and bully-victims have increased odds of later gang joining, compared to uninvolved youth; (3) the inclusion of risk factors partially mediates the effect of bullying involvement on gang onset for bullies and victims and fully mediates the effect for bully-victims; and (4) some evidence of sex differences exists. Given these insights, greater connections between bullying and gang prevention efforts may be worthwhile.

Juvenile street gangs are often differentiated from other types of gangs (e.g., biker gangs, prison gangs) due to their less organized nature and younger and less committed member base. Most juvenile crime is committed in groups, making it essential to distinguish between gangs and groups. Responses to youth gangs can be categorized into three types, each of which contains different objectives: prevention (stop youth from becoming gang involved), intervention (get youth to leave the gang), and suppression (police efforts to minimize crime and delinquency through enforcement).