Disciplinary incidents at U.S. public middle- and high-schools are a public policy concern. Although businesses popularly give credence to leaders' subjective intelligence, principals' reports of their schools' strengths and weaknesses are questioned. To determine whether principals' reports carry legitimacy as indicators of student offenses, the…

Although bullying aggression has been around for a long time, cyberbullying poses a unique and severe threat. With the advent of the internet and digital platforms, a bully can attack anytime and anywhere with exponential and repeatable damage. Before digital media, rumors or singular events were hurtful but did not have the added…

It is being increasingly recognized that providing human trafficking education (HTE) in schools is an effective prevention tool. Yet, the strategies that may be utilized in delivering these programs have not been fully established. The purpose of this paper is two fold. First, the paper discusses the importance of providing human trafficking…

Compared to non-HBCU institutions, studies associated with student perceptions of campus crimes in HBCU settings are limited. Utilizing survey data from two HBCUs, nearly 200 students express their opinions in association with victimization, offender characteristics, and campus safety strategies. Descriptive results indicate high levels of support…

Gun violence in schools has had a destructive ripple effect in many communities across the United States, invoking activism from both parents and the actual survivors of gun violence. By creating a new and comprehensive archival research database that analyzes 30 years of gun violence that has occurred on U.S. school properties, the current study…

Concerns for student safety are a commonly cited reason for the presence of police in schools. But as the nation grapples with the appropriate roles and responsibilities of police more broadly, the time is right to shine a light on what we know about the effects of police in schools. This brief summarizes the research related to this question.…

Addressing the widespread problem of sexual assault in college environments requires both prevention programming and policies addressing sexual misconduct in institutions of higher education. Through the Campus Sexual Assault Policy and Prevention Initiative, nine programs funded by the Office on Women's Health approached this problem within a…

School safety is a priority for school administrators and policy makers as they seek strategies to provide an environment conducive to learning. Beyond preventing crime, schools must contend with social disturbances that may not rise to the level of criminal activity, but can negatively affect students, teachers, and the school environment. One…

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…

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 implemented to promote school safety. SSOCS collects information from public school principals about the prevalence of violent and serious violent crimes…

School Resource Officer (SRO) programs have gained widespread popularity across the nation in response to concerns regarding safe schools. While much of the research concerning the program examines students' and school administrators' perceptions regarding the program, current research lacks an examination of the officer's assessment of the daily…

This study provides a policy network analysis on the implications of HB 792 and HB 280 at urban two-year open campuses, with specific attention to Georgia Piedmont Technical College (GPTC), a unit of the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG). Georgia state legislators passed House Bills 792 and 280, which authorized any person 18 years of age…

School violence has become a focal point, sparked by violent mass killings throughout the nation. One of the most substantial efforts for improving school safety and security is the utilization of specially trained police, titled school resource officers (SROs). Regardless of the importance of maintaining safe schools and an environment that is…

The question of whether guns should be permitted on college and university campuses in the United States reflects the tension between two competing perspectives. America has both a robust gun culture and an equally robust (if less well known) gun-control culture. The gun culture is as American as apple pie: There may be as many as 300 million…

This report presents findings on crime and violence in U.S. public schools, using data from the 2015-16 School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS:2016). First administered in school year 1999-2000 and repeated in school years 2003-04, 2005-06, 2007-08, 2009-10, and 2015-16, SSOCS provides information on school crime-related topics from the…