School safety is a wicked problem due to shifting needs and available information, the diverse actors affected and involved, fluctuating budgetary demands and ramifications, and relations to broader social and political issues. School safety challenges encompass a range of factors, including threats of violence and fears related to school…

In this descriptive research study, Caisa Elizabeth Royer, Erin L. Castro, and Estefanie Aguilar Padilla explore the experiences of prison stakeholders in higher education with prison disciplinary power. Based on interviews with nineteen prison education stakeholders, including program directors, instructors, family members of incarcerated…

In recent years, the media has highlighted the disrespectful and sometimes violent manner in which SROs respond to Black girls' behaviors. Few studies question how SROs in schools might influence traditional school discipline outcomes such as suspensions for a double minoritized group (race and gender) such as Black girls. Leaning on the Black…

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…

Inspired by fears of school shootings and supported by substantial federal funding, the number of school resource officers (SROs) on our nation's K-12 campuses has increased exponentially. The consequences of this sea change have yet to be fully evaluated. What we do know suggests cause for concern. Specifically, SROs' presence may be contributing…

This article summarizes the accomplishments of research on school safety in the past quarter century, identifies important gaps, and indicates promising directions for further progress. Although closely related, there are distinguishable bodies of research on physical and psychological safety. Physical safety research concerns the prevention of…

Title IX prohibits sex-based harassment (SBH) in all federally funded educational activities, yet little is known about SBH in K-12 schools. We used the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) data (N = 96,440) to examine rates and school-, district-, and state-level predictors of SBH in K-12 schools. Results found the vast majority of schools had…

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…

This is the executive summary for the report, "Is California Doing Enough to Close the School Discipline Gap?" In California, a combination of statewide and local efforts has been implemented to reduce the use of punitive suspensions in public K-12 schools. Current state data trends reflect these efforts, showing that far fewer students…

This research provides a unique seven-year trend analysis indicating that, while California has seen a decline in the use of suspensions in schools prior to the pandemic, the pace of the decline has slowed and large racial disparities in suspension rates remain. The research supports renewed advocacy efforts to eliminate schools' use of security…

In recent decades, the number of school resource officers has exploded. In 2013, about 30 percent of schools had one, as compared to 1 percent in 1975, The New York Times reported in 2018. These officers have increasingly received attention in the wake of high-profile school shootings. Yet relatively little is known about them. Who are they? How…

This report provides nationally representative data on public school safety and discipline for the 2013-14 school year. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) previously collected data on this topic in the School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS), which was last conducted in the 2009-10 school year (Neiman 2011). This report presents…

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…

Super-maximum security prisons have proliferated nationally, reflecting a belief among policy makers and corrections officials that such high-cost housing is effective. Yet little is known about the precise goals of "supermax" prisons, whether these goals are achieved, what unintended effects supermaxes may have, and, more generally, whether they…

The development of school security forces in the 1950s is shown in historical perspective. Short-term and long-term impacts of security operations are discussed in relation to the school administration, local law enforcement agencies, and the adolescent students. Predictions are given for school security operations in the 1980s. (JN)