Following a three-year partnership between the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and the U.S. Secret Service (USSS), a joint report summarizing their work reveals that incidents of targeted violence in schools are rarely impulsive and that attacks are typically the end result of a process of thinking and behavior that often can be detected by others.

The report, The Final Report and Findings of the Safe School Initiative: Implications for the Prevention of School Attacks in the United States, examines the behavior and thinking of young persons who commit acts of targeted violence in the nation's schools. The findings - and twelve scheduled training sessions for educators and law enforcement - could help communities prevent school violence and allow them to identify and help children in need.

Perhaps among the most critical of findings: before more than three quarters of the incidents, others knew about the attacker's idea or plan to attack. Most attackers also engaged in some behavior that caused others concern or indicated a need for help. In virtually all the cases where someone knew of the plan, the person with advance notice was a peer—a friend, schoolmate or sibling. In only two cases did an adult know of the idea or plan.

"While we now know that there is no accurate profile of the 'school shooter,' there are warning signs that could alert peers and adults to the plans of young attackers," said U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige. "In almost every case in this study, attackers behaved in ways that caused others concern. Many had difficulty coping with a major relationship change or a loss of status among their peers. Many threatened or tried to commit suicide. And many felt desperate and let others know that. This underscores the absolutely critical need to establish relationships and connections with young people, and to listen to them, and their peers."

"Through the new No Child Left Behind Act and the Safe and Drug Free Schools Program, we will continue our commitment to ensuring that no child is left behind - and that every child in America has the opportunity to learn to the highest standards. We know that in order to do this every school must be safe. This report and the upcoming training sessions are powerful tools that will help educators and local law enforcement agencies to work together to help keep our children and their teachers safe."

"Secretary Paige and I are pleased to offer the results of the Safe School Initiative to our nation's school leaders, law enforcement professionals, and others concerned with the prevention of school violence," U.S. Secret Service Director Brian L. Stafford added. "The final report, guide and training seminars are the products of a three-year collaboration between the Secret Service and the Department of Education. It is a partnership that has benefited our nation's schools and communities in their efforts to prevent these terrible events."

Bullying appeared to play a major role in motivating some attacks. In more than two-thirds of cases, the attackers said they felt persecuted, bullied, threatened, attacked, or injured by others prior to the incident.

Following the Columbine High School attack in April 1999, the U.S. Secret Service and the Department of Education began the Safe School Initiative, a study of thinking, planning and other pre-attack behaviors engaged in by attackers who carried out school shootings. Implemented through the Secret Service's National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) and Education's Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program, the study draws from the USSS's previous experience in studying the behavior of individuals who have carried out, or attempted, lethal attacks on public officials or public figures. The study identified 37 incidents involving 41 school attackers that had occurred since 1974.

The focus of the new report is on "targeted" school violence—school shootings where the school was deliberately selected as the location for the attack. The target may have been an individual, a category or group of students, or the school itself.

Among the key findings:

• More than half of the attackers had revenge as a motive and almost three-quarters were known to hold a grievance prior to the attack.
• Most attackers had previously used guns and had access to them. Two-thirds got the guns used in attacks from their own home or that of a relative.
• Despite prompt law enforcement response, most shooting incidents were resolved before law enforcement authorities arrived on the scene. Other students or faculty stepped in, or the student stopped shooting or committed suicide.
• In almost half the cases, the attacker was influenced or encouraged by others. In most cases, the attacker acted alone.
• There is no accurate or useful "profile" of those who engaged in school-based attacks. Student attackers come from various ethnic and racial backgrounds; a range of family situations; and have varying academic performance. Some were socially isolated, some popular; some had behavior problems, some had none that were evident; and few had any diagnosed mental disorder.

Under the study's research strategy, each incident of targeted violence was assigned to a study review team comprised of criminal investigators and social science researchers. Researchers consulted with experts in the fields of education, school violence and juvenile homicide, to develop the study design and protocols. Under an extensive search for information to help identify incidents of targeted violence, researchers explored databases, such as public news databases and professional publications, to identify incidents meeting the definition of the study population.

Researchers also consulted with law enforcement officials and school violence experts to develop leads on incidents of school violence that should be included. Other primary source materials consulted include investigative, school, court and mental health records.

Study researchers also conducted interviews with 10 of the perpetrators of incidents of the school-based attacks identified by the USSS and ED, allowing researchers the opportunity to examine the incident from the point of view of the attacker and to "walk through the process of the attack" from its conceptualization to its execution. Such insights can be used in training to illustrate particular aspects of incidents of targeted school violence.

Within the next few weeks, a new guide for managing threatening situations and for creating safe schools will be disseminated to schools and law-enforcement agencies throughout the country. This publication, Threat Assessment in Schools: A Guide to Managing Threatening Situations and Creating Safe School Climates, also will be used in 12 regional training sessions sponsored by the Department of Education and the U.S. Secret Service. Paige and Stafford are scheduled to participate in the Chicago training session taking place on June 5. Other sessions will be held in Seattle, Wash.; Houston, Texas; Boston, Mass.; Atlanta, Ga.; and San Francisco, Calif. For more information about the training sessions, visit http://www.threatassessmentseminars.org.

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