Research Shows This Is How to Prevent School Shootings

A pair of researchers on school violence share three strategies that have been proven to prevent school shootings.

4 MIN READ

Mar 10, 2023

In the months leading up to his 2012 attack that killed 26 people in Newtown, Connecticut, a 20-year-old man exhibited a cascade of concerning behaviors. He experienced worsening anorexia, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. His relationships deteriorated, and he became fixated on mass murders.

In 2013, an 18-year-old had enraged outbursts at school and threatened to kill his debate coach. Concerned, the school鈥檚 threat assessment team interviewed him, rating him as a low-level risk for violence. But three months after the assessment, he shot and killed a classmate and himself on school grounds in Centennial, Colorado.

By 2018, a 19-year-old man had more than 40 documented encounters with law enforcement and a history of threatening others and weapons purchases. After his mother died in 2017, family friends contacted law enforcement and expressed concern about his behavior. In 2018, he perpetrated a shooting that killed 17 people in Parkland, Florida.

All three perpetrators displayed disturbing behavior before their attacks鈥攁nd the people around them missed the opportunities to intervene.

are at the at the University of Colorado, Boulder. We study the circumstances that lead to violence in which an 鈥攍ike a person, group, or school鈥攊n advance.

We find that the same patterns of concerning behavior emerge among the perpetrators, but that鈥檚 not all. We also find that there are often many opportunities to intervene with the perpetrator before the tragedy that peers, family members, school staff, law enforcement officials, and others miss.

Much of the public discussion on preventing school shootings focuses on whether and how to limit people鈥檚 access to firearms. While these efforts remain important, over the past 30 years, our work has identified other strategies that can reduce the risk for violence. Here are three evidence-based steps that schools and communities can take to prevent violence.

1. Teach Students and Adults to Report Warning Signs

Most school shooters and to cause harm before their deadly attack.

These troubling behaviors and communications provide , for students to speak up, and for people to help a student who may be in psychological or emotional distress.

But the warning signs for violence can be difficult to distinguish from other types of problem behavior, particularly among adolescents.

According to the U.S. Secret Service, the are:

Threats to the target or others, and an intent to attack, including on social media
Intense or escalating anger
Interest in weapons
Sadness, depression or isolation
Changes in behavior or appearance
Suicide or self-harm
Interest in weapons or violence
Complaints of being bullied
Worries over grades or attendance
Harassing others

Attackers typically exhibit five or more of these concerning behaviors.

that encourage people to share their concerns about, and seek help for, those engaging in worrisome behavior may improve safety in schools and communities.

2. Develop and Publicize Around-the-Clock Anonymous Tip Lines

People need a way to safely report their concerns. systems include websites, phone numbers to call or text, email addresses, and apps. They let students and others anonymously, or confidentially, share their concerns about another鈥檚 threatening behavior or communications.

These tip lines can make people less hesitant to report situations that worry them or that they think may not be their business, such as bullying, threats, drug use, or someone鈥檚 talk of suicide.

Several states have modeled their tip lines after , which is a 24/7/365 live anonymous reporting system that was created in the wake of the 1999 Columbine High School mass shooting. Safe2Tell relays tips to local law enforcement officials and school leaders, who investigate and triage each tip. These law enforcement officials and school leaders determine the nature of the concern, along with the most appropriate response.

A 2011 study found the system had , but that research has not been updated in the years since. Recent Safe2Tell reports indicate that the system also helps students get help for significant mental health needs.

During the 2021鈥�2022 school year, for instance, Safe2Tell received 19,364 reports. Of those, 14% were related to suicide threats, 7% to bullying, and 7% to welfare checks. Of the 84 self-reports related to mental health that year, , 32% had their parents notified, 22% had an official check on their well-being, 12% were hospitalized at least briefly, and 10% were given a suicide assessment; some received more than one of those responses.

These types of interventions are known to prevent school violence. The National Policing Institute is a nonprofit organization based in Arlington, Virginia, that maintains the . As of 2021, the database contained case information on were first discovered by a peer of the potential attacker.

3. Conduct Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management

Once people report their concerns, law enforcement officers, school staff, and mental health professionals must evaluate the reports and determine how to handle the information and the people implicated.

One method, called , seeks to identify the cause of the concerning behavior鈥攕uch as a grievance, psychological trauma, or mental health concern. In schools, this process encourages the threat assessment team to evaluate the risk for violence and , their behavior, and their communications.

Schools that use this approach are the students they evaluate. That means students can still receive services and support through their school, rather than being excluded from it.

This process also helps in which a student made a threat but does not intend harm from those in which a student poses a real threat.

Once the team has assessed the threat, it can to ensure everyone knows how to handle the student and their behavior. School staff members then also know how, and to whom, to report any subsequent observations of worrying actions or statements from the student.

It鈥檚 important for all school personnel to know that the federal student privacy law allows this type of information-sharing because it . Some school leaders hesitate to share the plan because they are confused about this provision of the law.

For that reason, and because resources may be constrained at school or may not extend to a student鈥檚 home life, the action plans that follow behavioral threat assessments properly. So the team may have , but not the actual work of supporting, managing, or monitoring the student鈥檚 needs.

Americans are not helpless in the face of school violence. Research has identified solutions. We believe it鈥檚 time to act to consistently and effectively implement these solutions.

This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the .

Beverly Kingston , Ph.D., is director and senior research associate at the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research focuses on addressing the root causes of violence by creating the conditions that support healthy human development throughout the life course. She has designed, conducted and led several multi-million dollar school and community initiatives and research studies that focus on implementing a comprehensive public health approach to violence prevention. Kingston has published articles on using comprehensive public health models to address youth violence, school safety, neighborhood social factors, and health and the built environment.

Sarah Goodrum is a senior research associate in Violence Prevention with the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence at the University of Colorado Boulder. Goodrum鈥檚 research focuses on violence prevention, homicide victimization, domestic violence, and the criminal justice system. Her co-authored 鈥淩eport on the Arapahoe High School Shooting,鈥� funded by The Denver Foundation, examined the lessons learned on violence prevention in schools. These lessons have been used to improve the violence prevention strategies for threat assessment, information sharing, and leadership in school settings. Her publications have appeared in the Journal of Threat Assessment and Management, Behavioral Sciences & the Law, Law & Social Inquiry, Sociology of Education, Symbolic Interaction, Sociological Spectrum, Sociological Focus, Criminal Justice Review, and International Journal of Social Research Methodology: Theory & Practice. Her book After Homicide: Victims鈥� Families in the Criminal Justice System chronicles the experiences of families of murder victims from death notification to the trial, and is available through Lynne Rienner Publishers (2019).