Citation

Fridel EE. Justice Q. 2021; 38(4): 596-625.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, Publisher Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/07418825.2019.1666907

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Research on school shootings remains limited, focusing primarily on individual-level risk factors, contagion, and prevention. The community effects literature on homicide and exposure to violence, however, suggests that contextual correlates also play an important role. This study examines whether macro-environmental characteristics impact the odds of a school district experiencing a shooting. A penalized maximum likelihood logistic regression model was used to compare 253 school districts in the United States that experienced at least one shooting from the 1998/1999 to 2017/2018 school years to the 13,201 that did not.

RESULTS indicate that districts with high enrollments and expenditures and greater levels of disadvantage and violent crime are at a higher risk for a school shooting. School shootings share similar macro-level contextual risk factors with other types of violent crime. Researchers should account for the context in which a school shooting occurs to avoid inflating the influence of individual-level risk factors.

Language: en

Keywords

communities and crime; firearms; homicide; School violence