(CNN) -- The alleged gang rape of a 15-year-old girl on the campus of Richmond High School in Northern California while 10 or more witnesses, most of them students, looked on has sparked familiar questions: "Why are our kids so messed up?" "Why didn't these students try to stop the crime?" "What's happening in our schools?"



These are fair questions, and commentators in the media have provided familiar answers. The purported rape is another sad example of today's self-absorbed and uncaring youth. It was the media's glorification of violence that caused it. The horrific act shows how sociopathic brains develop. But it seems as if the majority of commentators have settled on the idea that the Richmond students did nothing because of the "bystander effect": The more people involved in a criminal incident, the less likely any one of them will intervene to do something about it.



Unfortunately, this "What's wrong with our children?" approach leads to a dead end, because it results in a sweeping moral condemnation of the schools, families and students in this community. These perpetrators committed a heinous act that should be widely condemned. But a discussion that focuses exclusively on the immorality of these deviant young men does not provide solutions that prevent gang rape from happening.



Talking only about the bystander effect wrongly suggests that the vast majority of teens would not call for help. Take Richmond. Claims of depraved acts by a few kids have served to demonize an entire student community.



Rather than demonize all teenagers in Richmond High School, we should be asking another question: "What can we do to prevent such heinous acts from happening?"



The answer to that question leads to a wholly different kind of dialogue, one that may surprise. It is primarily students, the reputed problem, who can best prevent acts of violence on campus.



Make no mistake about it. The alleged two-hour-long gang rape on October 24 was an extreme form of school violence. It unfolded not far from the gym where the school-sponsored homecoming dance, supervised by school staff and police officers, was being held. And students, police say, largely perpetrated it.



Research since the massacres at Columbine High School (1999) and Virginia Tech (2007) has taught us a lot about how to prevent such school violence. Chief among them is that school staff and security should patrol campuses, especially violence-prone areas, during and after school events.



According to a CNN report, a friend of the alleged victim saw blatant failures in safety precautions. She said, "I looked outside of the gym, and I saw 12 to 15 guys, sitting there, with no IDs. The officers -- not only did they not check the IDs of those students or men sitting outside of of our campus, but the security officers who are employed here did no job of checking either."



Virtually all students and teachers at a school can identify these dangerous hot spots. At Richmond High School, one such spot is "a dark alley near the back side of the school," the site of the purported rape.



As CNN reported, school officials had even requested that video cameras and more lights be installed in the area, but they were never installed. The alleged rapists and student bystanders probably knew that no one would be patrolling the area.



As important as campus patrols are in reducing campus violence, the most powerful form of prevention is believing that students can help stop crime from happening. They didn't stop the purported rape at Richmond, a skeptic might say. A possible reason is that they were not educated on how to stop it. .



Research shows us that students often know ahead of time when and where violence will flare up on campus. Strong social networks and the widespread use of cell phones and text messaging rapidly convey such information.



This dynamic can fuel violence, as officials say it did at Richmond High School. It can also prevent violence. Thousands of potential school crimes, including violent ones, have been averted on campuses
What are commentators focused on? On what are commentators focused? What did commentators focus on? what are commentators focused on? what do the studies show? What crime do students not report? What do studies show?
the idea that the Richmond students did nothing because of the "bystander effect": the idea that the Richmond students did nothing because of the "bystander effect": "bystander effect": "bystander effect": students often know ahead of time when and where violence will flare up on campus. gang rape that students often know ahead of time when and where violence will flare up on campus.
question: What are commentators focused on?, answer: the idea that the Richmond students did nothing because of the "bystander effect": | question: On what are commentators focused?, answer: the idea that the Richmond students did nothing because of the "bystander effect": | question: What did commentators focus on?, answer: "bystander effect": | question: what are commentators focused on?, answer: "bystander effect": | question: what do the studies show?, answer: students often know ahead of time when and where violence will flare up on campus. | question: What crime do students not report?, answer: gang rape | question: What do studies show?, answer: that students often know ahead of time when and where violence will flare up on campus.