Preventing kids from becoming bullies and intervening to get bullies back on track can not only protect children from the pain that bullying inflicts immediately, but can protect all of us from crime later on.

Nearly 60 percent of boys who researchers classified as bullies in grades six through nine were convicted of at least one crime by age 24. Even more dramatic, 40 percent of them had three or more convictions by age 24.

Bullying is an early warning that bullies may be headed toward more serious antisocial behavior. Moreover, victims of repeated bullying can explode in ways that threaten not just the bullies but many others as well. For example, the Secret Service study of school shootings found that "almost three-quarters of the attackers felt persecuted, bullied, threatened, attacked or injured by others prior to the incident."

PROVEN PROGRAMS CAN CUT BULLYING IN HALF - AND SHARPLY REDUCE CRIME

Research clearly shows that half or more of all bullying can be prevented. The youngsters with the most behavior problems benefit most from effective programs. But bullying prevention efforts should be based on rigorous scientific research. Creating an untested program and calling it  "bullying prevention" doesn't mean it will work.

MONEY WELL SPENT

Bullying prevention programs are relatively inexpensive for the results they deliver. These investments will more than pay for themselves by reducing special education costs and future crime.Professor Mark A. Cohen of Vanderbilt University estimated that each high-risk juvenile prevented from adopting a life of crime could save the country $1.7 million. 

Bullying is not just sad, it's dangerous. Too many bullies and their victims will go on to commit crimes, including murder. Others will kill themselves. 

BULLYING: AN EARLY WARNING SIGN OF CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR

Without intervention, bullies pose a serious risk to fellow students and others. The NICHD survey indicates that the most serious bullies were seven times more likely to report they had carried a weapon to school in the prior month . The more serious bullies were also three and a half times more likely to have been in a fight where they sustained an injury serious enough to require treatment by a nurse or doctor.

Specific studies of bullying also show that bullies' anti-social behavior is not limited to school, but continues in other settings and into adulthood.

THOSE WHO ARE BOTH VICTIMS AND BULLIES MAY BE MORE AT RISK... AND MORE DANGEROUS

The NICHD bullying survey found that over six percent of students, or 1.2 million young people, reported that they were both victims and perpetrators of bullying. Researchers found that those who were both bullies and victims were caught in the worst of both worlds. Research has led to the conclusion that "youth who both bully others and are bullied may represent an especially high risk group."

Not only are these youth at greater personal risk from problem behaviors, but their angry responses to being bullied also puts other people at risk. For example, experts from the Secret Service were called in to help develop profiles of the Columbine and other school shooters. They found that most of the shooters had been bullied before choosing to attack their perceived tormentors.

Obviously, most victims of bullying don't respond with murder, and having been bullied by no stretch of the imagination relieves a killer of responsibility for such a crime. But punishment after the fact will always be too little and too late to undo the agony such violence leaves behind.

FAILURE TO ACT NOW GUARANTEES MORE BULLYING AND VIOLENCE

When children are repeatedly victimized and little is done to stop it, that is not only sad, but also dangerous. Too many of these children will go on to kill themselves. Some will turn their guns on other students. When bullies are allowed to progress through school without their intimidating and violent behavior being addressed, they often become a danger not only to the school, but also to the whole community. Without intervention, too many of these chronic bullies will begin carrying weapons, and too many grow up to be chronic criminals.

There is now scientific proof that much can be done to prevent bullying and to help both the victims and the bullies. Science shows that bullying programs work, and are not only affordable but are also likely save money. Such results merit adequate funding to implement proven programs in every school. These programs will pay for themselves through reduced school violence, fewer placements for special-education, fewer suicides, and less future crime.

Inaction now guarantees that more students and ordinary citizens will become victims of bullying and violence.

The above information was obtained from a report compiled by Fight Crime: Invest In Kids. For more information and the complete report, visit Fight Crime: Invest In Kids.