Public tragedies are heartrending events that gain widespread public attention. But where once prominent tragedies often brought Americans together, such tragedies no longer unify the country.
Research on developing brains has helped bring about a sea change in attitudes toward juvenile life without parole. But many people who committed crimes as minors are still serving such sentences.
Analysis of the 10 years in which the US banned sales of assault weapons shows that it correlates with a drop in mass shooting deaths – a trend that reversed as soon as the ban expired.
Much of the public discussion on preventing school shootings is about whether and how to limit people’s access to firearms. But other strategies can reduce the risk for violence.
A gunman at Michigan State University shot dead three people before taking his own life. Two criminologists explain how the incident fits a pattern of campus attacks.
Some Americans hoped the Parkland shooting in 2018 would herald a turning point for gun violence in schools. Shootings, and deaths, have continued – and gotten more frequent.
To resolve growing violence in schools, policy conversations about gun violence need to include community programs that dismantle systemic barriers and inequities.
On Oct. 24, while a teenage gunman was pleading guilty for a deadly school incident in Michigan, another school shooting was taking place in St. Louis.
Study after study has shown that men tend to be more willing to put themselves in harm’s way to help others. Why some men rise to the occasion – and others don’t – has been a bit trickier to pin down.
An anthropologist explains the power of purification rituals, such as bringing down a building following a tragic occurrence in it, and why they help reduce our anxieties.
Surveillance cameras, metal detectors, door-locking systems and armed guards have not prevented school shootings. A school safety scholar examines other possible approaches.
School violence prevention requires professionals – counselors, psychologists and social workers – who know how to create an emotionally safe environment. Those staffers are in very short supply.
Waiting for kids to show signs of distress has little value, says a researcher who is pushing schools to take a more proactive approach toward student mental health.