Section 1. Introduction

A. Purpose

All involved in working to prevent or respond to school violence should be aware that no strategies in this nor any other publication provide any guarantees against violence erupting. Recognition of the rarity of school shootings and the complexity and unpredictability of human behavior should temper community initiatives as well as expectations. Most of the interventions presented in this document, however, have the potential to yield benefits beyond just reducing hazards associated with school shootings. Additional benefits include:

• Lowering rates of delinquency, harassment, bullying, suicide, and all other forms of violence and antisocial behavior.
• Increasing the likelihood troubled youth will be identified and receive treatment.
• Improving the learning environment by reducing intimidating, disruptive, and disrespectful behavior.
• Preparing communities for responding to not only shootings at schools, but also all other man-made and natural disasters.

B. Background

Given the number of students and schools in the United States, multiple victim homicides are still extremely rare, and in recent years, the overall rate of violence in schools has actually declined. Physical conflicts, threats, and harassment are, however, still common. Many students and teachers are more fearful than ever before when they enter the doors of their school. This climate of fear makes it more difficult for schools to provide positive learning environments.

The causes of school violence are subject to much speculation. While the causes clearly lie in multiple areas, possible contributors to school violence mentioned in the literature include:

• Exposure to violence within the family and community.
• Child abuse and neglect.
• Poor parenting practices and lack of interest in children's activities.
• Peer pressure to engage in harassment of other students, violent behavior, drug or alcohol use, and truancy.
• Prejudices based on race, religion, ethnicity, physical appearance, social class, sexual orientation, disability, gender, etc.
• Information on how to make explosive devices and unsupervised access to firearms.
• Excessive exposure to violence in television programming, movies, and video games.
• Drug or alcohol abuse.
• Lack of conflict resolution skills.
• Lack of quality role models and the availability of inappropriate role models.
• Perceived lack of opportunity to be successful through legitimate means.
• Failure to detect and treat children exhibiting warning signs of being troubled.
• Lack of adult supervision of, and positive interaction with, children after-school.
• Negative student self-image.

C. Approach

The names of the experts and focus group participants who donated their time, expertise and perspective to this project are listed in the acknowledgments. As a result of their contributions, guidance for school violence prevention and response is offered in each of the following areas:

• Ways to prevent student violence.
• Threat assessment.
• Planning and training for what to do during an actual crisis.
• How to respond during a crisis.
• How to handle the aftermath of a crisis.
• Legal considerations.
• Recommendations for the media.
• Legislative issues.

The roles of school administrators, teachers, and staff are discussed. In addition, student, parent, law enforcement, and community roles are addressed. Throughout the report, textboxes provide more in-depth information or illustrate the potential value of the suggestions using actual cases of school violence.

D. How to Use this Document

• To help communities audit their schools' existing policies, procedures, and plans. Not every suggestion contained in this document is appropriate for every school. All schools and communities could benefit, though, from checking to see that they have considered and, where appropriate, implemented the recommendations likely to enhance their schools' safety.
• To serve as a basis for strengthening collaborative school violence policies, procedures, and plans. School safety planning committees can delete, revise, and add to recommendations in this document as needed to address their unique needs and circumstances.
• To help public safety and other crisis response agencies assess their school safety plans.
• To provide guidance to members of the school community. This document has not been copyrighted. Sections of the document can be extracted (with or without being modified) and provided to constituents. For example, a list of things parents should do to help prevent school violence could be provided via handouts, newsletters, etc. A list of actions the media can take to help prevent school violence could be sent to local newspapers, radio stations, and television stations. The need for retyping the relevant sections can be eliminated by downloading them from the PSLC page of the IACP Website.