Gun violence and school shootings have become more prevalent in recent years, and beginning in 2017, firearm-related injuries became the most common cause of injury-related death for children ages 1 to 24. Students also face the threat of bullying, gangs, racism, drugs, and abuse. In recognition of the need for collective action, the Council of…

Schools should be safe places for young people, educators, school staff, and community members, and policies and practices can help create learning environments where kids thrive. Gun violence in U.S. schools has prompted calls for increased school safety measures; however, which policies contribute to safe school environments is often a topic of…

During the 1970s and 1980s, several Latin American countries went through U.S.-backed military dictatorships. In Argentina alone the number of people who disappeared between 1976 and 1983 is estimated to be at around 30,000. In the late-1980s activist and artistic efforts to preserve, archive and make memory visible began to take shape alongside…

This reflective essay highlights the importance of project structure when teaching highly controversial topics. I review research that shows differing approaches to teaching highly controversial subjects and the impact of the approaches on learning outcomes. I then reflect on the outcomes of deploying a non-directive, peacekeeping approach to…

February 14 marked the 1-year anniversary of the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and April 20 marks the 20th anniversary of the tragedy at Columbine. Much progress has been made over the last 20 years in the understanding of threat assessment, crisis preparedness, and the importance of increasing…

Aggressive immigration enforcement hurts the very youngest children. Refugee and U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants experience many childhood adversities, compromising their development and health. Refugee children flee traumatizing violence in their home countries, face grueling migrations, and are harmed further by being held in…

Uprisings against police violence have placed the institution of policing front and center in conversations about societal change. In our work with activists, we have engaged in collecting and analyzing public records data to inform community organizing for change. In this editorial we discuss how to obtain, interpret, and analyze public records…

Increased attention to police brutality and violence against people of color has elevated scrutiny of campus police. Students have critiqued the inequitable treatment of students of color on their campuses by campus police. In doing so, the students are critiquing racial inequity in the campus climate. The California Community Colleges…

"Detroit" and "Step" are two recent movies in the context of urban riots in protest of police brutality. They refer to time periods separated by half a century, but there are common themes in the two that seem appropriate to both times. The movies are not primarily concerned with the riot events, but the riot is a major…

Public school districts and police departments in the United States often collaborate to address school-based violence and other threats to the safety and well-being of students, teachers, and staff. As a result of these partnerships, law enforcement officers have become an increasingly common presence in schools around the country, even at the…

The decision on how to protect the children and youth while at schools is a serious conversation with varying agreements on the best practices. Some feel that school personnel should not be trained nor expected to be able to react to an armed person while others believe that training of school personnel and allowing them to be armed will deter…

The Comprehensive School Safety Initiative (CSSI) is a large-scale, integrated research effort designed to increase the safety of schools nationwide. It was initiated in 2014 at the request of Congress. The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) administers the CSSI as a research grant program. Through the CSSI, the NIJ funds research-focused…

Shortly after the attack on Sandy Hook Elementary School that killed 20 children and six school staff members on December 14, 2012, Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy established the Sandy Hook Advisory Commission to review laws, policies, and practices in place at the time to make recommendations to reduce the probability of another attack.…

Gang affiliation is not something that students leave behind when they come to school. Gang members do not leave their behaviors, attitudes, and conflicts outside the school environment. Gangs, unchecked and unidentified in a school setting, often engage in threat and intimidation; physical and cyber bullying; fighting; recruiting; and criminal…

The debate over sexual violence on campus is reaching fever pitch, from headlines about out--of-control fraternities, to the "mattress protests" by female students at Columbia University and other colleges. "The Hunting Ground," the new documentary by award-winning filmmakers Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering, has taken this debate to…