School safety is a key feature of the learning environment. Research suggests if students perceive their environment as unsafe they will face a myriad of possible detrimental consequences. Using qualitative interviews, we explore the factors most consistently identified by students as important in their feelings of safety. We examine whether the…

Although there has been an increase in research on support for campus carry laws, few studies have examined how these laws influence campus safety. Using longitudinal data from a university sample, this study compares measures of campus safety before and after the adoption of a campus carry law. We found statistically significant increases in…

Gun control is a highly debated and divisive social issue. In recent years, this issue has been thrust into the academic arena with the advent of campus carry legislation and policies. Researchers have taken up the task of attempting to better understand the attitudes of those most affected by campus carry legislation -- the campus community. The…

This article focuses on the topic of campus crime reporting, particularly students' stated likelihood of reporting crime incidents to the college public safety department, municipal police, or a member of the library staff. The survey vignette design involves experimental manipulation of several situational variables in line with the unresponsive…

The current study aims to examine and compare predictors of attitudinal support for campus carry and concealed carrying behaviors on a campus where faculty, staff, and students can legally carry a weapon. This explores the relationship between attitudes and behaviors as it relates to concealed weapons on campuses. Whereas attitudinal correlates…

Recently, states have enacted teacher-carry laws. While controversial, little scholarship has tapped public attitudes toward such reforms. Because public opinion shapes policy, the public is an important stakeholder in this debate. Thus, we investigated three questions. First, how supportive is the public of arming teachers? Second, what…

As demonstrated in extant research, there are significant distinctions across urban, suburban, and rural communities both in the experience of school violence and in the resources allocated toward safeguarding schools from violence. What remains unknown is how the relationship between weapons at school (i.e., possession of a weapon and attacks…

Although studies have identified risk factors for adolescent handgun carrying, previous research on risk factors for carrying a handgun to school specifically is sparse. This study examines self-report data from 122,840 8th, 10th, and 12th grade students from 426 schools across Arizona, from three survey administrations (2014, 2016, and 2018). In…

Campus violence prevention often includes proactively reducing crime through noticing and resolving concerning situations. Within these efforts, interventions aimed at enhancing reporting have been considered necessary. The current study explored several reporting influences on college students' responses to hypothetical and actual campus safety…

In this article, the authors review efforts to increase the availability of crime data to students and parents, utilize security technologies on campus, allow members of campus communities to carry concealed weapons, use criminal or potential shooter profiling, employ threat assessment techniques, and implement emergency response plans to address…

This exploratory study investigates the relation between incident reports to local law enforcement, and students' and teachers' perceptions of school safety. Using a combination of grounded theory and statistics, we compared quantitative data collected from law enforcement agencies with qualitative data provided by students and teachers during…

This paper provides an analysis of data on school security measures which were obtained from a survey administered to a sample of 230 high school students. The majority of students indicated that the school police officers and security officers help keep the schools safe and that the drug-sniffing dogs help reduce drugs in the schools, but there…