In the past several decades, the number of college students who experience mental health concerns has increased astronomically. During that time, acts of campus violence have increased as well. Unfortunately, many colleges have been unable to effectively meet the needs of students with mental disorders. This article explores the challenges…

By examining Virginia Tech's crisis communication during and after the shootings on April 16, 2007, valuable insights were gained that may be applied to current crisis communication models. This article addresses the unique characteristics of educational institutions and the need for comprehensive emergency communication strategies and on-site…

The Virginia Student Threat Assessment Guidelines were developed in response to studies of school shootings conducted by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Secret Service, and U.S. Department of Education that recommended schools should adopt a threat assessment approach to prevent targeted violence. This article reviews the…

To determine whether larger high schools have more student victimization than smaller schools, this study examined a statewide sample of approximately 7,431 ninth-grade students and 2,353 teachers in 290 Virginia high schools participating in the Virginia High School Safety Study. School size was distinguished from the proportion of students…

School shootings have generated great public concern and fostered a widespread impression that schools are unsafe for many students; this article counters those misapprehensions by examining empirical evidence of school and community violence trends and reviewing evidence on best practices for preventing school shootings. Many of the school safety…

The first police in the United States to embrace the kind of community-focused policing that "modern" law enforcement embraces, and which was extolled by Sir Robert Peel in 1826, were the New Haven, Connecticut police officers hired by Yale University in 1894 to patrol and keep order on campus. Why did Yale not simply rely on the New…

This evaluation report is the second publication from the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services' (DCJS) ongoing evaluation of the Virginia School Resource Officer (SRO) program. The findings are based on data submitted by 78 local SRO programs, all of which were awarded grants of federal or state monies from DCJS. The findings are…

An advisory committee, in response to a 1985 resolution by the Virginia General Assembly, presents this analysis and makes recommendations concerning state school bus safety. The report is divided into eight topics; six appendices comprise three-fourths of the study. "Origin of the Study" states requests to be investigated by the…

Findings of a Virginia study to determine if a need exists for statewide standards to ensure the safety of school playgrounds are presented in this document. Data were derived from a literature review, document analysis, and two statewide surveys: one to all school division superintendents (75); and one to the principals of 54 elementary schools.…