The view that colleges are generally safe has been challenged by threats of violence on campuses across the country, causing fear among stakeholders. Community college faculty are not immune to crime-related fear on campus; however, the research has largely ignored this population. This research serves to fill that gap. The purpose of this…

States use statute and regulations to specify which behaviors "must" result in a student being suspended or expelled, with varying degrees of discretion allowed at local levels. This data point captures the offenses for which students must be suspended or expelled. Forty-six states and the District of Columbia must suspend students for…

School shootings are at an all-time high. That's according to the National Center for Education Statistics, which has been keeping track of the numbers for about 20 years. What are schools to do? Is there a "profile" of the typical school shooter that could help us identify those who might commit a shooting in the future? Is there some…

This study identified risk, promotive, and protective factors for handgun carriage among 265 primarily African American adolescents (M[subscript age] = 14.3) living in low-income urban areas. Community-based violent victimization and witnessing violence and in-person and cyber forms of peer victimization increased the probability of handgun…

People who report greater belief in pure evil (BPE; the tendency to attribute harmdoing to dispositionally sadistic perpetrators) generally punish criminal perpetrators more regardless of mitigating circumstances (e.g., having a brain tumor). What attributional/cognitive processes underlie such punishment? A national sample (final N = 302) read an…

Sometimes school and district personnel must involve law enforcement in disciplinary actions, which may include reporting specific offenses or directing school resource officers to address certain infractions. This data point examines when state statute or regulation requires schools to involve law enforcement agencies and personnel and for which…

Teachers experience learner challenging behaviour in primary schools worldwide. In South Africa, learner behaviour is undermining teaching and learning and compromising safety in some primary schools. To understand teachers' experiences of learner challenging behaviour, a qualitative data-collection approach was applied. Data from 15 teachers from…

Compared to non-HBCU institutions, studies associated with student perceptions of campus crimes in HBCU settings are limited. Utilizing survey data from two HBCUs, nearly 200 students express their opinions in association with victimization, offender characteristics, and campus safety strategies. Descriptive results indicate high levels of support…

Objective: This study investigates the association between histories of childhood victimization and perceived consequences of college hazing. Participants: First-year college students at four US universities (N = 120). Method: Participants completed Web-based surveys asking about childhood victimization (eg, child maltreatment), peer…

In response to tragic school shootings, heightened attention has been devoted to making schools safer through the implementation of security features. However, excessive security measures have a negative impact on school climate, student functioning, and academic achievement. Therefore, there is a critical need to design schools that are safe and…

This is the 25th edition of Indicators of School Crime and Safety. This report provides summary statistics to inform the nation about current aspects of crime and safety in schools. This report does so by highlighting selected findings from 23 indicators on various school crime and safety topics. By synthesizing findings in this way, the report…

This is the 24th in a series of annual publications. Beginning with the 2020 edition, this report has been redesigned with the intention of increasing its usability for a wider audience. This report does so by highlighting selected findings from 23 indicators on various school crime and safety topics. It first examines different types of student…

Witnessing violence can negatively affect students' outcomes, but their friendships may mitigate those effects. This study investigated the extent to which seeing someone shot in the last year related to seven school-related outcomes. Additionally, it examined the extent to which prosocial and deviant friends moderate these relationships. This…

The overarching goal of schools is to create a safe, supportive environment where students can thrive and learn. This begins with a dedication to students' social and emotional well-being, and effective policies and programs that create a culture of trust. Such a culture provides an optimal learning environment, and is also a proactive step…

The focus of classroom incivility research thus far has been at the individual discipline and large public or specialty institution level, which limits the generalizability of findings. Surveying undergraduates (N = 150) at different types of schools (2-year public, 4-year public and 4-year private) and majors on their perceptions of incivility in…