DUQUESNE, Pa. -- When does bullying become a crime? Most schools these days have policies on bullying, but as Target 11 has found in one local school district, some parents think bullying is out of hand and question whether their kids are safe going to school.

The Duquesne School District has a policy on bullying with punishment ranging from detention to suspension to expulsion.

But even the police chief and the local district justice said what's going on in the school lately rises way above bullying. And in recent weeks at least two kids ended up in a hospital.

Allen Jackson said, "I wanna be a doctor or a lawyer."

When he's not too afraid to go to school, Jackson attends fifth grade in the Duquesne School District in a building which houses kindergarten through 12th grades.

Tina Magwood said, "No child should be scared to go to school. They really shouldn't and I said if he's scared to go to school you don't want me to keep him home but yet you're not doing nothing to help the situation."

The situation is that Jackson claimed he's been the victim of school violence -- beaten up several times. The last fight sent him to the hospital.

"This one boy, he kicked me. He kicked me in my face and it left a mark on my face," Jackson said.
Target 11's Karen Welles asked, "He kicked you in the face?"
Jackson said, "Yeah."
Welles asked, "Were you on the floor?"
Jackson said, "Yeah."
Welles asked, "Does it still hurt now?"
Jackson said, "No. It's just that I get headaches."

Aniyah Moye said, "The only thing I knew (was) I couldn't breathe. I thought I was going to die."

Just days before Jackson went to the hospital, Moye ended up there with a concussion she received from fellow students at the same school despite the presence of security guards.

Welles asked, "How many girls were there and what were they doing?"
Moye said, "There was five girls kicking me in my head."
Welles asked, "So, you're down on the floor?"
Moye said, "Yeah and everybody's on top of me. The security guard's on top of me. Children are on top of the security guard. That's how it was couldn't breathe, couldn't move. I passed out like twice."

The five girls were charged with assault. A couple of weeks later police were called again. Two other girls fighting were charged with disorderly conduct.

Police Chief Richard Adams said, "In general we're receiving more calls involving juveniles than ever before."

There were 45 citations in March. Adams said, for the first time, there is more juvenile crime than adult.

"The cause is very superficial. It may be fighting over a boy, disrespecting another student, what a student says about another student. There's always some tension prior to the altercation that results in physical altercations," Adams said.

Bullying expert Dayna Jornsay-Hester said, "It's not a mutual exchange there. It's not like roughhousing."

Target 11 showed this physical altercation between Duquesne Elementary Students on the playground to Jornsay-Hester.

One boy was on the ground, another hits him with a shoe. A girl starts kicking him. He gets up and is tackled.

Jornsay-Hester said, "The kid is laying, ya know, completely nonmoving and he's prone and the other kids are, ya know, attacking him in some way. So, ya know, that concerns me."

When bad behavior becomes criminal, students go to court in their school's auditorium.

On one day, District Justice Scott Schricker hauled a box containing 85 cases -- which is what he averages every month, with everything from truancy to disorderly conduct to harassment.

Welles asked, "Are things out of control?"
Schricker said, "I wouldn't call it out of control yet, but it's getting there fast."

School officials said they're tolerating less when it comes to student conduct.

Among the 409 Duquesne students in sixth through 12th grade, there have been 640 suspensions so far this school year.

School officials predict by the time the school year ends, there will be more suspensions and expulsions than there were last year.

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