Threats in Schools: A Practical Guide for Managing Violence

by Mccann; Joseph T

• ISBN13: 9780789012968
• ISBN10: 0789012960
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2001-11-21
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Manage potentially violent situations in your school with these expert techniques! In the wake of several highly publicized school shootings, the problem of school violence has increasingly become a focus of concern for the general public as well as teachers, school officials, and students. Drawing on case studies from publicized violent incidents as well as from Dr. McCann's private practice, Threats in Schools: A Practical Guide for Managing Violence provides techniques for identifying, conceptualizing, assessing, and managing threatening behavior by students in school settings. Offering specific case management strategies for a variety of situations, this indispensable volume provides guidance on formulating questions to ask and suggestions for developing strategies for managing potentially violent situations. Integrating threat assessment and risk management models, this approach will help you target potential threats to property, other students, teachers, and school staff. The interdisciplinary approach recognizes that violent behavior is dependent on the characteristics of the perpetrator, victim, and setting, and that the relationship between threats and violence is not always clear. Threats in Schools offers well-grounded research, detailed case studies, and theoretical approaches to help you deal with the tough issues, including: zero-tolerance policies and their more effective alternatives why profiling techniques to identify violence-prone students are of limited use interventions to defuse potentially violent situations critical incident stress management Five appendixes offer forms and checklists to help you plan and evaluate, including: threat assessment and management planning checklist of characteristics of perpetrators of school violence questions for evaluating general risk of violence fire-setting and bombing risk assessment sex offense risk assessment Lucidly written and illustrated with helpful tables and figures, Threats in Schools offers school officials, mental health professionals, community leaders, and the media the information they need to understand what sparks school violence and which approaches reduce the risk of it.

Author Biography

Joseph T. McCann, PsyD, JD

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Acknowledgments	xi
The Nature of Violence and Threat Assessment	1	(12)
Violence in Schools	3	(1)
Approaches to Combating School Violence	4	(4)
Understanding Threat Assessment and Management	8	(3)
Conclusion	11	(2)
Types of Threats and Violence	13	(22)
What Is Aggression?	14	(2)
What Is Violence?	16	(2)
Types of Threats	18	(6)
How Threats Are Communicated	24	(5)
The Relationship Between Threats and Violence	29	(4)
Conclusion	33	(2)
Risk Assessment of Violent Behavior	35	(20)
Prediction versus Risk Assessment of Violence	36	(3)
Personal Security versus Community Policing	39	(2)
Correlates of Violent Behavior in Young People	41	(5)
Violence and Mental Disorder	46	(6)
Conclusion	52	(3)
Assessing and Evaluating Threats	55	(28)
Direct Questions to Ask About a Threat	58	(7)
Evaluating Specific Issues	65	(10)
Indirect Methods of Assessment	75	(5)
Assessing Potential Inhibitors of Violence	80	(1)
Interdisciplinary Approaches	81	(1)
Conclusion	82	(1)
Managing Potentially Violent Situations	83	(20)
Interventions Targeting the Potentially Violent Student	85	(7)
Interventions Targeting the Victim	92	(4)
Interventions Targeting the Situation	96	(4)
Critical Incident Stress Management	100	(2)
Conclusion	102	(1)
Special Situations	103	(24)
Threats Against Property	104	(6)
Threats Against Other Students	110	(10)
Threats Against Teachers	120	(4)
Conclusion	124	(3)
Appendix A: Threat Assessment and Management Planning Form	127	(2)
Appendix B: Checklist of Characteristics of Youth Who Have Caused School-Associated Violent Deaths	129	(2)
Appendix C: Questions for Evaluating General Risk for Violence	131	(4)
Appendix D: Fire Setting and Bombing Risk Assessment Questions	135	(2)
Appendix E: Sex Offense Risk Assessment Questions	137	(2)
References	139	(8)
Index	147