Previous literature suggests that students who feel unsafe in their academic settings experience harmful academic, social, and psychological ramifications. With an alarming increase in school shootings, violence, and media coverage, the political discourse surrounding gun violence and strategies to ensure safety on college campuses has become…

Incidences of school shootings have surged in the United States. The increases in school shootings and the implementation of active shooter drills in various formats in response to these incidences have been identified as causing psychological issues in many students, including fear, vicarious trauma, and anxiety, and as causing diminished…

The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological case study was to investigate how school safety protocols have changed in a suburban county since the Sandy Hook Elementary 2012 school shooting. Through interviews of district safety directors and school resource officers and analyzing district school safety documents, this study showed how…

The reasons for committing to active shooter drills and exercises are based on psychological survival and decision-making research, along with experiences and lessons learned. However, in the realm of education, the origins and research-based purposes of active shooter drills are mostly unknown. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the…

This dissertation adds to the economic study of gun and marijuana laws. Chapter 1 studies the impact of stand your ground laws (SYGs) on traffic fatalities. Chapter 2 investigates the effects of campus concealed carry laws (CCCs) on higher education outcomes. Chapter 3 looks at the impact of medical marijuana laws (MMLs) on youth crimes. The first…

My dissertation studies the relationship between counseling and violence within U.S. schools. Much of the research on school security and school safety tends to lean heavily on routine activities theory and other opportunity theories, which limits the study of other factors critically relevant to this topic such as school climate. This…

Little is known about how a college mass shooting affects faculty and staff survivors. The purpose of this study was to better understand how the experience of a college mass shooting affected the lives of faculty and staff involved in the incident. This study examined, in-depth, the personal accounts of six college staff and faculty who had…

In July 2014, the State of Idaho Legislature, after several failed attempts in earlier years, successfully passed Idaho Senate Bill 1254 which allowed for the possession of weapons on Idaho public college campuses by individuals with enhanced concealed carry permits. The Idaho State of Board of Education and the boards of trustees from each of the…

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a relationship between student behavior (drug, liquor, or weapons violations) and community characteristics (poverty and population) on crime that occurs across 90 four-year historically Black college and university (HBCU) campuses. The gap in the literature shows little to no research to…

The "American Counseling Association (ACA) Code of Ethics" (2014) purpose and intent are to ensure that the individuals that counselors are providing support to warrant the opportunity to be empowered through facilitating respect to all of the individuals that the counselors provide support through counseling sessions. The code of ethics…

Campus shootings have impacted campuses across the United States for almost two centuries. Between 2015 and 2016, at least three historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) experienced multiple shootings where students were killed in each incident. This qualitative comparative case study used secondary data to explore the similarities and…

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of gender and sexual orientation on students' perceptions of campus safety and carrying concealed handguns. A comparative research study was used to evaluate the statistical differences on the perceptions of fear of crime and campus carry by gender and sexual orientation. For this study, a total…

The National Institute of Justice (1999) and the National Academy of Sciences (2009) recommended that forensic science training shift from on-the-job training to formal education; however, the reports cited inconsistencies in the curricula of the forensic science degree programs as an impediment to this. The Forensic Science Education Programs…

The scientific foundation in firearm and tool mark identification is that each firearm/tool produces a signature of identification (striation/impression) that is unique to that firearm/tool, and through examining the individual striations/impressions; the signature can be positively identified to the firearm/tool that produced it. There is no set…

Scope and method of study. The purpose of this study is to understand the existing state legislation concerning bullying in schools to determine whether the development, structure, and content of these state mandates parallel any change in reported incidents of bullying by public schools in each of those states. This is a descriptive and…