The Final Report and Findings of the Safe School Initiative: Implications for the Prevention of School Attacks in the United States

Littleton, CO; Springfield, OR; West Paducah, KY; Jonesboro, AR. These communities have become familiar to many Americans as among the locations of those schools where shootings have occurred nationwide in recent years. In the aftermath of these tragic events, educators, law enforcement officials, mental health professionals and parents have pressed for answers to two central questions: "Could we have known that these attacks were being planned?" and, if so, "What could we have done to prevent these attacks from occurring?" This publication, The Final Report and Findings of the Safe School Initiative: Implications for the Prevention of School Attacks in the United States, is a recent product of an ongoing collaboration between the U. S. Secret Service and the U. S. Department of Education to begin to answer these questions. It is the culmination of an extensive examination of 37 incidents of targeted school violence that occurred in the United States from December 1974 through May 2000. The findings of the Safe School Initiative suggest that there are productive actions that educators, law enforcement officials, and others can pursue in response to the problem of targeted school violence. Specifically, Initiative findings suggest that these officials may wish to consider focusing their efforts to formulate strategies for preventing these attacks in two principal areas: • developing the capacity to pick up on and evaluate available or knowable information that might indicate that there is a risk of a targeted school attack; and, • employing the results of these risk evaluations or "threat assessments" in developing strategies to prevent potential school attacks from occurring. Support for these suggestions is found in 10 key findings of the Safe School Initiative study. These findings are as follows: • Incidents of targeted violence at school rarely were sudden, impulsive acts. • Prior to most incidents, other people knew about the attacker’s idea and/or plan to attack. • Most attackers did not threaten their targets directly prior to advancing the attack. • There is no accurate or useful "profile" of students who engaged in targeted school violence. • Most attackers engaged in some behavior prior to the incident that caused others concern or indicated a need for help. • Most attackers had difficulty coping with significant losses or personal failures. Moreover, many had considered or attempted suicide. • Many attackers felt bullied, persecuted, or injured by others prior to the attack. • Most attackers had access to and had used weapons prior to the attack. • In many cases, other students were involved in some capacity. • Despite prompt law enforcement responses, most shooting incidents were stopped by means other than law enforcement intervention.