Threat Assessment in Schools: A Guide to Managing Threatening Situations and Creating Safe School Climates (185K .pdf)
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ACROSS AMERICA — Students and parents who saw something amiss about another student's behavior spoke up and likely saved lives. the U.S. Secret Service said in a new report on school violence released this week.
In its report titled "Averting Targeted School Violence," the Secret Service's National Threat Assessment Center studied 67 thwarted school violence plots, as well as the motives and backgrounds of 100 students who intended to carry out the plots.
Seeing early warning signs of a student who might carry out a mass attack and getting that person help is critical to stopping school violence, the center found through its research.
Sixty-eight shootings have taken place in U.S. schools since the Columbine High School massacre in April 1999, according to the most recent data available through the K-12 School Shooting Database.
While school shootings are still rare compared to daily gun violence, data shows they are happening more often. In fact, from 2015 to 2018, the United States averaged one school shooting every 77 days, according to the database.
To create its report, the National Threat Assessment Center looked at cases at K-12 schools in 33 states between 2008-2017. A majority of the targeted schools (84 percent) were high schools and one-third were in suburban communities.
While the cases examined came from public records, the locations of the thwarted violence attempts were intentionally anonymized in the report, a Secret Service spokeswoman told Patch.
Students who plotted school violence attacks also shared similar history and behaviors as those who actually carried out attacks, such as a history of school discipline, contact with law enforcement, and drug and alcohol use, research found.
Many experienced bullying or had mental health issues like depression or suicidal thoughts. A majority also came from a home where parents CONTINUE READING: School Violence In U.S. Thwarted When Others Speak Up: Report | Across America, US Patch
