DOI: 10.3886/icpsr37935
title: Understanding the Causes of School Violence Using Open Source Data, United States, 1990-2016
title: Archival Version

description: This study provides an evidence-based understanding on etiological issues related to school shootings and rampage shootings. It created a national, open-source database that includes all publicly known shootings that resulted in at least one injury that occurred on K-12 school grounds between 1990 and 2016. The investigators sought to better understand the nature of the problem and clarify the types of shooting incidents occurring in schools, provide information on the characteristics of school shooters, and compare fatal shooting incidents to events where only injuries resulted to identify intervention points that could be exploited to reduce the harm caused by shootings. To accomplish these objectives, the investigators used quantitative multivariate and qualitative case studies research methods to document where and when school violence occurs, and highlight key incident and perpetrator level characteristics to help law enforcement and school administrators differentiate between the kinds of school shootings that exist, to further policy responses that are appropriate for individuals and communities.
description: The purpose of this study is to better understand the causes of school shootings, and to provide data that can be used to reduce the harm cased by shootings.
description: The investigators began by identifying the criteria for inclusion. For inclusion in the database the incident must: Have occurred on or after January 1st, 1990. Have occurred in the United States. Lead to a criminal justice response. A gun must have been fired (including accidental discharge but not BB or pellet guns). Have occurred on K-12 school grounds (Parking lots, after school activities, and school busses are included. Bus stops, walking to school, pre-schools, universities, and school board meetings at non-school locations are excluded.) Involve at least one injury or death. The investigators then employed a multi-tiered effort and reviewed existing databases, chronologies and listings, official records, law enforcement reports (e.g., from the FBI; NYPD; Secret Service), scholarly works (e.g., Hagan & Pah's database; Capellan's database; K-12 School Shooting Database; schoolshootingdatabase.com; schoolshooters.info, etc.), newspaper accounts/listings (for e.g., USA Today; Washington Post), other media's listings (e.g., CNN; NBC), online encyclopedias (e.g., Ballotpedia; Britannica; Wikipedia), blogs, and watch-groups/advocacy reports/listings (e.g., Brady Campaign; Everytown). The investigators also comprehensively searched and scraped the Internet and conducted keyword searches using major search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo, and leading newspapers like the New York Times, to locate relevant events.
description: The variables describe the various characteristics of each school shooting. There is information about each perpetrator, including information about their motivations, whether or not they were a student at the school, some information on their home life and family history, and gang affiliation. There is also victim data, such as the number and severity of victims injuries, number of fatalities, and whether the victims were students or teachers. There is also information about the characteristics of each school, including the type of school and what violence prevention strategies were in place. Finally there is information on media coverage and police involvement in the aftermath of each shooting.
description: Not applicable.
description: Response Rates: Not applicable.
description: Presence of Common Scales: None.
description: All incidents identified from the universe and meet inclusion criteria.
description: Datasets: DS1: Understanding the Causes of School Violence Using Open Source Data, United States, 1990-2016
description: All school shootings occurring on K-12 school grounds in the United States from 1990-2016. Smallest Geographic Unit: None
description: record abstracts; mixed mode; web scrapingData for all incidents were compiled from the search for information from 60 unique search engines.This study collected qualitative data that is not included in this release. Qualitative data will be included in a future update.