About 200 days a year, kids get up in the morning and head to school. They spend 6-8 hours at school, and then turn toward home, or to other activities. Schools themselves tend to be safe places. Stress, bullying, rough-housing, and some other social issues can erupt but are typically well-managed by school administrators and families.

The area immediately around schools is often considered safe. Some states have created ‘Community Protection Zones’ around schools, which prohibit certain categories of sex offenders from residing within a specific distance of schools. Other laws prohibit weapons on public property within a certain distance of schools and provide for harsher penalties for drug crimes near schools. Those laws serve as public statements that we want our children protected from predators and criminals, but they do little to dissuade predators and criminals from attempting to harm children.

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