A Study on an Autonomous Committee for Countermeasures against School Violence for CRIME Prevention

Abstract

Recently, a growing number of cases of school violence at school sites have become contentious and become legal problems, and the phenomenon is deepening beyond what teachers can solve. In line with these social changes, the Act on the prevention of and countermeasures against violence in schools was enacted in 2004. However, a number of complementary points are being discussed regarding the formation and operation of an autonomous committee for countermeasures against school violence under the current law. As the autonomous committee, which plays the most direct role as a response to school violence, needs to operate efficiently, the study explored the development direction through the analysis of current statutes and prior studies. The preceding studies presented various conclusions, but in common they suggested a lack of expertise in the formation of autonomous committees. It also said it lacked counseling and other support for the victims. Based on these problems, the study presented the following improvement directions. The first is the strengthening of the professionalism of the autonomous committee. The results of the preceding studies show that non-professional parent representatives include a majority, weakening their professionalism. Therefore, the need to expand the participation of external members in order to secure expertise is recognized. The second is the expansion of exclusion and recusal and the broad-basedization of the autonomous committee. It will be necessary to expand the system of exclusion and recusal in conjunction with the strengthening of professionalism. In order to eventually resolve this issue, the broad-basedization of the autonomous committee should also be considered. The third, parents' education closest to students should be required so that education can be conducted within the home. However, since such parents' education cannot be enforced under the current law, there is a need to establish a rule to supplement it. Finally, it is necessary to bring the victims' support to reality. In order to make the support of the victims a reality, it may be possible to activate the counseling function, including professional social workers, in the form of autonomous committees. Another is the use of the expertise of the Korea Crime Victim support Center. This improvement will serve as a positive aspect of the autonomous committee's activities to reduce school violence.