Although research on the effectiveness of school resource officers (SROs) remains mixed, the number of SROs in the U.S. continues to grow. We interviewed 18 SROs, SRO supervisors, and school leaders from exemplar programs to explore SRO role perceptions. Analysis revealed three themes: (1) SROs support a safe learning environment via multiple…

Although heuristic models on safety for Black students have been proposed following the death of George Floyd (Edwards, 2021), little research to date has highlighted how Minnesota educational leaders perceive school resource officers (SROs) in schools. This phenomenological investigation explored the shared lived experiences of six Minnesota high…

Professional screeners frequently verify photograph IDs in such industries as professional security, bar tending, and sales of age-restricted materials. Moreover, security screening is a vital tool for law enforcement in the search for missing or wanted persons. Nevertheless, previous research demonstrates that novice participants fail to spot…

Following increased attention to racial disparities in police use of force, national conversations have focused on the role of law enforcement, including in public schools. This study examines transparency with regard to the presence of law enforcement in schools. Leveraging novel school-level and district-level data from the state of Florida,…

Objective: Describe Greek life students' perspectives of party culture, safety, and College Sexual Violence (CSV) prevention. Participants: 27 US undergraduates: 5 fraternity underclassmen, 6 fraternity upperclassmen, 10 sorority underclassmen, 6 sorority upperclassmen. Methods: Students participated in one of four focus groups, separately by…

Using data from the School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS), this report presents findings both on crime and violence in U.S. public schools and on the practices and programs schools have used to promote school safety. SSOCS is managed by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of…

This report is the second in a series that highlights findings from an evaluation of State School Safety Centers (SSSCs) being carried out by WestEd's Justice and Prevention Research Center and funded by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ). The first report in the series utilized survey data from school safety key informants (e.g., SSSC staff,…

The school-to-prison pipeline (STPP) describes in shorthand the problematic relationship between some students' school experiences and their subsequent incarceration. One summer, in response to vocal concerned parents, a suburban school board adopted a zero-tolerance policy for smoking and vaping. Through the combined effects of the zero-tolerance…