Death Penalty News

School shootings like the recent one in Santa Clarita, Calif. , have focused the nation's attention on school safety. And schools across the U.S. are wrestling with how to prevent themselves from becoming the site of the next tragedy. Many schools are turning to highly visible "hardened" security measures. For example, at least eight states now have laws mandating active shooter drills in schools. But there's little research yet that shows that those drills are effective. Meanwhile, a new comprehensive report from the U.S. Secret Service underlines the agency's previous findings that there is one safety approach that does work: threat assessment, as part of a comprehensive program of social and emotional support for students. Active shooter drills can scare vulnerable children A new law in Illinois requires students to participate in active shooter drills at school. The drills often involve students hiding in the classroom and sometimes evacuating t...

How "active shooter" drills became normal for a generation of American schoolchildren. "Are you kids good at running and screaming?" a police officer asks a class of elementary school kids in Akron, Ohio. His friendly tone then turns serious. “What I don’t want you to do is hide in the corner if a bad guy comes in the room,” he says. "You gotta get moving." This training session — shared online by the ALICE Training Institute, a civilian safety training company — reflects the new normal at American public schools. As armed shooters continue their deadly rampages, and while Washington remains stuck on gun control, a new generation of American students have learned to lock and barricade their classroom doors the same way they learn to drop and roll in case of a fire. The training session is a stark reminder of how American schools have changed since the 1999 Columbine school shooting. School administrators and state lawmakers have real...