This book provides a foundation for the study of school violence, beginning with an analysis of the shootings at Columbine and going on to discuss all forms of aggression in schools.

Since the year 2000, there have been approximately 200 school shootings in the United States. Unfortunately, this is not simply a U.S. problem. In 2017, a 15-year-old Canadian male student committed suicide after shooting two other students and a teacher. During that same year, in Brazil, a private school student fatally shot two classmates and injured four. In 2018, a 13-year-old Russian girl opened fire with a gas pistol and injured seven 7th graders. Hence, school violence is a problem of global concern. Acts of School Violence in the School Setting addresses this international problem from a crime and criminal justice perspective. The history of school violence follows the pattern of what most would consider the history of education. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, current research has shown a decline in the rates of school violence over the past three years; however, the few high-profile cases broadcast repeatedly in the media lead the public to other conclusions. All individuals agree that a child attending school should be concerned with the process of learning, not with avoiding victimization and that the school environment should be a safe and secure location for both students and teachers. In addition, and most central to this text, without a safe school environment, students and teachers may be assaulted, injured, or killed. Included in this textbook are definitions related to the types and categories of school violence (including bullying, stalking, and crimes against students that involve the internet), discussions on victims and offenders, and case examples. Also included in this textbook is information on criminal justice system responses to school violence from both a national and international perspective. Finally, this textbook discusses adult perpetrators of school violence and the explanations for such attacks.

Why do so many school antiviolence programs backfire? And why do policymakers keep making the same mistakes? The authors of Responding to School Violence examine the pervasive rise of school security measures since the Columbine shootings, highlighting the unintended consequences of policymaking too often shaped by fear and sensationalism. Probing an array of now ubiquitous tactics and programs¿metal detectors, police patrols, zero tolerance policies, and more¿the authors show how increasingly punitive schoolhouse dynamics negatively affect student safety and even educational experiences. They also share lessons from past mistakes and identify workable, comprehensive approaches for addressing a recurrent social problem.

The problem of violence in schools has not gone away despite radical reductions in violent crimes throughout the country over the last decade. Students continue to harrass, haze, and harm each other in a variety of ways, disrupting classrooms and whole schools. In the wake of the Columbine massacre, many focused on the worst kind of school violence: deadly assaults with dangerous weapons. But other forms of violence are more persistent, common, and just as destructive in many ways: fighting, sexual abuse, carrying weapons to school, vandalism, and assorted other crimes that happen behind the closed doors of elementary, middle, and high schools across the country. The consequences range from violent victimization and death, to the disruption of learning and fear among student bodies and teaching staffs. Here, Thomas provides a foundation for understanding why the violence occurs, preventing it from happening, and treating both offenders and victims after it happens. Using scores of case descriptions to illustrate the types of school violence and their treatment in recent years, the author skillfully shows readers how the problem of violence and crime in schools is an insidious issue that cannot go untreated. He offers both tested and proposed methods for dealing with a host of violence issues and a guide to planning treatment of the problem and its associated consequences. He answers the questions: What are prominent types of violence in American schools? What conditions contribute to those types of violence? What methods can be applied in an effort to reduce school violence? Readers will come away from this book with a greater understanding of the scope of violence in America's schools, and the myriad ways of addressing it.

In recent years, the United States has seen a vast increase in bloodshed stemming from violence within the education system. Understanding the underlying factors behind these atrocities may be the first step in preventing more brutality in the future. The Handbook of Research on School Violence in American K-12 Education provides emerging research exploring the theoretical and practical aspects of the phenomena of school violence through the lens of social science and humanities perspectives. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as preventative measures, cyberbullying, minority issues, risk factors, and dealing with the traumatic aftermath of such events, this book is ideally designed for researchers, students, psychologists, sociologists, teachers, law enforcement, school counselors, policymakers, and administrators seeking current research on the interconnectedness between families, schools, bullying, and subsequent violence.

This comprehensive, evidence-based examination looks at violence and security across the entire spectrum of education, from preschool through college. In Violence and Security on Campus: From Preschool through College two expert authors take an evidence-based look at this important issue, dispelling myths and misconceptions about the problem and offering appropriate responses to it. Their book examines patterns, trends, correlations, and causes of violence, crime, and disorder in diverse educational settings, from elementary schools through colleges and universities. It reviews data and research evidence related to forms of violence, from bullying to murder, and it explores the varied security concerns that confront schools of different levels. In addition to describing the nature and extent of the school violence problem, which is often divergent from media reports, the authors point to other security issues that need to be considered and addressed by administrators and security personnel. Finally, they assess a variety of policy responses and security solutions—some popular yet ineffective, some challenging yet promising—offering advice that will enhance the security of any institution of learning.