About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

19 J. Sch. Violence 1 (2020)

handle is hein.journals/wjsv19 and id is 1 raw text is: JOURNAL OF SCHOOL VIOLENCE 2020, VOL. 19, NO. 1, 1-5 outledge https://doi.org/10.1080/15388220.2019.1703721 Taylor & Francis Group An Introduction to the Special Issue: Firearms Homicide and Perceptions of Safety in American Schools Post-Columbine Jun Sung Hong a and Dorothy L Espelage b_ aSchool of Social Work, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA; 'Applied Developmental Science and Special Education, School of Education, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY There have been numerous public discussions and debates on school shoot- Received 9 December 2019 ings and what measures are needed to protect students in schools with little Accepted 9 December 2019 empirical support. The aim of the special issue is to fill the research gaps in KEYWORDS school shootings and school safety by bringing together researchers on school Firearms; school shootings; violence. school safety; school violence; youth Students, teachers, parents, and school administrators have become increasingly concerned about the rising number of homicides in school districts. The widespread fear, outcry, and panic among students, parents, school personnel, and the public in the aftermath of the infamous Columbine school shootings in 1999 led to a myriad of responses to address gun violence and make schools safer. Indeed, research has shown that the rate of firearm-related homicide in the United States is significantly higher than that of other countries (e.g., Lankford, 2016), and children killed by firearms is higher in the United States than in other countries. When school shootings occur, accusations are brought against an individual and community's moral beliefs, choices in entertain- ment, firearms-related legislation (or lack thereof), religious observance (or lack thereof), perceived deterioration of the mental health system, and so much more (Warnick, Johnson, & Rocha, 2010). As of December 2019, there have been 229 shootings that occurred at school districts in the United States since the Columbine shootings in 1999, although school safety has become a priority in schools after Columbine (Kann et al., 2016; Robers, Zhang, Morgan, & Musu-Gillette, 2015; Zhang, Musu-Gillette, & Oudekerk, 2016). Media attention and community outrage surrounding school shootings (e.g., Columbine, Sandy Hook, Marjory Stoneman Douglas) have escalated national concerns about school violence. These incidents of school violence have hastened efforts to create the safest schools possible. Following a series of school shootings in 2018, attention among policy- makers, educators, and the general public has once again focused on enhancing students' safety (Blad, 2018; Curran, 2018). Over the years, there have been numerous public discussions and debates concerning factors underlying school shootings and what measures are needed to protect students in schools, with little empirical support (Kalesan et al., 2017). The aim of the proposed special issue is to fill the gaps in the empirical literature on school shootings and school safety by bringing together researchers on school violence. Indeed, many schools have put in place numerous measures to secure schools and to calm parents and teachers who are concerned about the risk of school shootings. However, it is not always clear what measures are put in place following a school shooting at the school level, rather our knowledge is often limited to the state or national level. Curran, Fisher, and Viano, (2019) in this special issue addressed this gap in their article Mass School Shootings and the Short-Run Impacts on Use of School Security Measures and Practices: National Evidence from the Columbine Tragedy. They examined responses from 810 elementary school principals who participated in the national CONTACT Jun Sung Hong 0 fl4684@wayne.edu ( 5447 Woodward Avenue, Detroit, MI 48202 0 2019 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most