Colleges See Street-Like Incidents of Black-on-Black Violence

Afro
Many African American parents fear that the same violence they worry will affect their young adult children on the streets at home will find them in their quest for higher education. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 93 percent of the 9,000 blacks murdered in 2007, were killed by other blacks. Blacks are six times more likely to be victims of violent crimes than whites and eight times more likely to be the perpetrator, the report said.

Though college campuses don’t have the same level of violence as urban streets, some of the same kinds of crimes occur there, experts said—shootings, stabbings and assaults as a result of senseless disagreements and perceived slights. Even some students who are high academic achievers resort to street behavior when faced with a conflict at college, experts said.