A rise in the number of school shootings over time has driven increasing attention to school safety. However, school shootings are not the only physical safety threat students may encounter at school. Other types of violence include sexual assault, robbery, physical attack or fights, and threats of physical attack (with or without a weapon). In…

Violence occurring in South African schools takes various forms and is a concern for all stakeholders. All forms of violence have negative effects, i.e. physical and psychological, educational damage and societal breakdown. The overall aim of the study reported on here was to explore the nature, causes and consequences of school violence, and then…

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.…

The "defund the police" movement has recently called for the removal of police--or school resource officers (SROs)--from schools. This call is driven by concerns that SROs may heighten student contact with criminal justice or lead to disproportionately harsh disciplinary consequences. This study uses linked disciplinary, academic,…

Across the country, school districts, their stakeholders, and policymakers have become increasingly concerned about suspensions, particularly about suspending students from elementary school and disproportionately suspending ethnic/racial minority students. Suspended students are less likely to graduate, possibly because they miss the…

School resource officers' (SROs) presence (e.g., engagement in patrol, carrying firearms, etc.) and prevention (e.g., mentoring, teaching) roles have not been distinguished in investigations of SROs' association with student outcomes. A model predicting nonviolent incidents and serious violent incidents reported to police from SRO presence and…

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…

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…

Violence prevention programs are commonplace in today's schools, though reviews of the literature reveal mixed empirical findings on their effectiveness. Often, these programs include a variety of components such as social skills training, student mentoring, and activities designed to build a sense of school community that have not been tested for…

The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) developed the Comprehensive School Safety Initiative in consultation with federal partners and Congress. It is a research-focused initiative designed to increase the safety of schools nationwide through the development of knowledge regarding the most effective and sustainable school safety interventions and…

This study incorporated a multiple-methods design utilizing both quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative portion investigated several annual reports distributed by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) to explore the impact of school uniform policies on incidents of crime and violence and occurrences of…

The school shooting incidents during the decade of the 1990's prompted an increase of law enforcement presence in schools. The School Violence Resource Center (SVRC) at the Criminal Justice Institute (CJI) University of Arkansas System undertook a project to determine what programs law enforcement agencies currently provide in their local schools…

Background: Low-level violent behavior, particularly school bullying, remains a critical public health issue that has been associated with negative mental and physical health outcomes. School-based prevention programs, while a valuable line of defense to stave off bullying, have shown inconsistent results in terms of decreasing bullying. This…

Three hundred and twenty-seven senior student affairs officers (SSAOs) responded to a questionnaire about the effectiveness of the Clery Act and their views of campus safety. As a group, SSAO responses were very homogenous, resulting in few significant differences when institutional type (public v. private) and status (2-year v. 4-year) were…