Evidence fails to support more punishment as remedy for childhood violence

Insisting that more punishment will produce more justice for children who are "victims of violence" at the hands of other children overlooks the fact that discipline should also change behavior. Evidence indicates that abandonment of mediation and "nonjudicial" methods in favor of stronger "police forces" for children is ill-advised. There is support for Purkey's (1990) conclusion that there is no "one-best method." How students respond to any strategy designed to reduce violence behavior is likely to be a function of background variables as well as the nature of the method.