School Safety and Target Hardening
June 10, 2022
School Safety and Target Hardening
The May 2022 deaths of 19 students and two teachers in a
measures include (1) having an emergency operations plan
mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX,
(EOP), (2) being aware of and receiving training on the
has led some Members of Congress to discuss a range of
EOP, (3) having mechanisms in place for threat assessment,
policy options to address gun violence in schools, several of
(4) consistently using safety technology (e.g., controlled
which have been considered after previous mass shootings
entries, surveillance cameras) that is appropriate for the
in schools. One option that has again gained the attention of
issues the school faces, (5) designing schools that utilize
policymakers is target hardening of schools, which
Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design
generally involves attempts to fortify schools against gun
principles (i.e., designing spaces so they provide informal
violence through their physical design and additional
and formal means of access control, surveillance and the
security measures.
ability to be aware of one’s entire surroundings, and
creating a sense of shared ownership and responsibility for
Data on Shootings on School Grounds
a space), and (6) utilizing school resource officers (SROs).
Shootings on school grounds are relatively rare events,
though data from the Center for Homeland Defense and
School Climate
Security (CHDS) at the Naval Postgraduate School suggest
This component refers to the feelings people have about the
that these events have occurred more frequently in recent
school setting and includes factors such as conditions for
years. CHDS publishes data on the number of school
learning and that support physical and emotional safety,
shootings (defined as “each and every instance a gun is
connection and support, and engagement. NIJ explains that
brandished, is fired, or a bullet hits school property for any
a positive school climate is important for school safety.
reason, regardless of the number of victims, time of day, or
According to NIJ, there is strong evidence that a positive
day of week”) each year from 1970 to 2022. From 1970 to
school climate helps keep students safe and promotes other
2017, there were two years (2006 and 2017) during which
desirable student and school outcomes. A school’s
more than 50 school shootings occurred. From 2018 to
environment influences student behavior, may affect
2022, there were more than 100 school shootings each year.
students’ mental health and help-seeking behavior,
Despite the increase in shootings on school grounds in
improves school attendance, and creates an atmosphere
recent years, most do not involve an active shooter (i.e.,
where students are willing to report threats of violence or
when a shooter killed and/or wounded victims, either
other negative behavior.
targeted or random, within the school campus during a
continuous episode of violence). Since data collection
Student Behavior
began, 2018 was the year with the most active school
This component encompasses students’ mental health,
shooter incidents (11). Active shooter incidents in 2018
behavioral health, trauma, and discipline. NIJ notes that
accounted for 9% of all school shootings (118) and 57% of
unaddressed mental health problems and adverse childhood
all school shooting deaths that year.
experiences are connected to negative outcomes, such as
poor academic achievement, behavior problems, dropping
NIJ’s Comprehensive School Safety
out of school, and delinquency.
Framework
The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) released a
School Resource Officers
comprehensive school safety framework in 2020. The
SROs are sworn law enforcement officers who are assigned
framework has three interconnected components: physical
to work at a school. Assigning SROs to schools is a
safety, school climate, and student behavior. NIJ notes,
frequently discussed option for making schools harder
“school climate and physical safety are central to
targets because the SRO might serve as a deterrent to a
preventing school violence. Managing student behavior
potential school shooter, or provide a quicker law
contributes to a positive school climate, which can prevent
enforcement response in cases where a school shooting
threats to students’ physical safety.” NIJ asserts there is not
occurs. While there are proponents of placing more SROs
a one-size-fits-all approach to school safety and that each
in schools to protect against school shootings, there is a
school has to develop its own approach based on its
debate about whether their presence is potentially
assessment of needs and risks.
detrimental to some children. Advocacy organizations, such
as the American Civil Liberties Union, and academics have
Physical Safety
argued that SROs might result in more children either being
This component is broadly about ensuring students’
suspended or expelled or entering the criminal justice
physical safety at schools and pertains to school
system for relatively minor offenses. During the recent
architecture, controlling ingress and egress, and preventing
debate over policing in the United States, numerous school
bodily harm to students and teachers. NIJ states that the
districts across the country re-evaluated their SRO
keys to keeping students safe through physical security
programs, with some reducing budgets for SROs or
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School Safety and Target Hardening
removing them from schools altogether and placing more
with any form of violence or victimization at school. The
funding into mental health services for students. However,
study found that other factors, such as prior victimization,
some jurisdictions that decided to scale back the number of
low social competence, peer rejection, violent school
or remove SROs have recently changed course and
contexts, and negative school climates were the most
increased or restarted their programs after concerns over an
consistent predictors of any at-school victimizations.
increase in safety problems in some schools.
Department of Justice Funding for
NIJ contends that SROs can be a key component in
Target Hardening in Schools
promoting safety in and around schools. NIJ also notes that
DOJ administers two discretionary grant programs that are
“there are mixed findings regarding the impact of officers
the primary source of federal funding for target hardening
in schools. For example, some scholars have found that
measures.
school policing can contribute to increased involvement of
youth in the justice system, while others suggest that school
Grants under the Matching Grant Programs for School
policing yields positive outcomes such as crime prevention,
Security (school security grant program) are jointly
staff and student safety education, and improved police-
administered by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and
student relationships. These mixed results can be attributed
the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office.
to the limited evidence base surrounding the impact of law
BJA and the COPS Office award grants for different
enforcement in educational settings.”
purposes (see 34 U.S.C. §10551). Grants from the COPS
Office focus more on traditional target hardening measures,
There are instances where school shootings have occurred
while grants from BJA focus more on threat assessment and
at schools where SROs were present (e.g., Parkland, FL;
preventing school violence.
Santa Fe, TX; Marshall County, KY; and Great Mills, MD),
which might raise questions about their deterrent effects.
The COPS Hiring Program (CHP) provides grants that can
On the other hand, data on instances of averted instances of
be used to hire SROs. The COPS Office requires SROs
school violence from 2018 to 2020 collected by the
hired with grant funds to attend a 40-hour training program
National Policing Institute, a nonprofit research and policy
from a provider it has approved.
organization focused on policing issues, indicated that there
were five cases (out of 120 in total) where an SRO
Policy Considerations
discovered a school violence plot before it was committed.
NIJ’s school safety framework suggests that typical target
A 2021 study from researchers at the University at Albany,
hardening measures can contribute to school safety, but
State University of New York and the RAND Corporation
they are not, in and of themselves, sufficient to ensure
used data from the Department of Education’s Civil Rights
school safety. Policymakers seeking to increase federal
Data Collection to examine the effects of SROs on school
funding available solely for target hardening may consider
crime and climate. Their results were consistent with NIJ’s
whether to amend the authorization for the school security
conclusions about the mixed results regarding SROs’
grant program so that funds can only be used for security
effects on schools and students, but they also found that
measures, such as physical security and SROs. Congress
SROs did not prevent school shootings.
could consider requiring a certain portion of annual funding
for CHP to be dedicated to grants for hiring SROs.
If a school district chooses to have SROs on campus, NIJ
stresses that their duties, roles, and responsibilities should
NIJ’s framework suggests a more holistic approach to
be clearly delineated and SROs should not be involved in
school safety, something Congress could support through
resolving routine disciplinary incidents in schools, such as
the existing school security grant program. As currently
disruptive students in class.
structured, applicants have to submit two separate grant
proposals depending on what programs they want funded.
Physical Security in Schools
One issue policymakers might consider is whether allowing
In the wake of a school mass shooting, there are frequently
applicants to submit one proposal to one administrator for
calls to make schools harder targets for active shooters by
all of the purposes currently authorized under the school
increasing physical security measures. A review of school
security grant program might promote more comprehensive
safety technology conducted in 2016 by Johns Hopkins
school safety planning.
University’s Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) found that
“many of the activities that schools undertake to promote
The aftermath of high-profile mass school shootings can
safety and prevent problems, including use of technology,
lead to efforts to increase federal funding for school safety
have not been evaluated” and that “there is limited and
and security, but the funds can have a short spending
conflicting evidence in the literature on the short- and long-
window. APL noted that this can hamper the ability of
term effectiveness of school safety technology.” APL also
school districts to evaluate their security needs and can lead
noted that the school safety technology literature tends to
to equipment purchases to show they are “doing
focus on people’s perceptions of school safety technology
something.” One issue policymakers might consider is
rather than the technology’s efficacy.
whether Congress should make a long-term commitment to
funding school safety infrastructure, possibly by
A 2019 meta-analysis of 693 studies on school violence
establishing a mandatory program to fund these projects.
found that traditional target hardening practices, such as
installing security cameras and metal detectors, or having a
Nathan James, Analyst in Crime Policy
SRO or school security guard present, had little association
IF12131
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School Safety and Target Hardening
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