Research on Police in Schools: The School Safety Study

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract

Concern over the safety of students, teachers, and administrators in our nation’s schools continues to grow. This is due in part to the widespread media coverage of mass school shootings, such as the events at Columbine High School in 1999 and Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. Schools have adopted a number of approaches for increasing safety, including the use of controlled access to buildings, security cameras, metal detectors, and the placement of school resource officers (SROs). The deployment of SROs in schools has increased rapidly in recent years, largely due to the availability of funding for SROs through the U.S. Department of Justice. Little is known about the effects of this major shift in the way discipline is handled in schools.

The National Institute of Justice’s (NIJ) launched the Comprehensive School Safety Initiative in 2014, in response to a congressional appropriation of $75 million, to fund research related to school safety. The initiative has funded several studies focusing on the role of police officers in schools and the effects of increasing police in schools. This panel reports on one of those studies: The School Safety Study.

Sub Unit

• Area IX. Juvenile Crime and the Justice System / 50. Schools, School Violence and Bullying

Division of Special Interest

• Divisions of Special Interest / Division of Policing

Individual Presentations

• Title: The School Safety Study: Overview - Denise Gottfredson, University of Maryland

• The School Safety Study: School Context - Erin Bauer, Westat

• The School Safety Study: The SRO Intervention - Ben Korelitz, Westat; Michele Harmon, Westat

Chair

• Denise Gottfredson, University of Maryland

Discussant

• Aaron Kupchik, University of Delaware