Safe Passage

Safe Passage: A Guide to Addressing School Violence provides a road map for educators, school administrators, and mental health specialists dealing with the often misunderstood and sensationalized phenomenon that is school violence. The editors, who are psychiatrists, educators, and parents, emphasize that mass casualty events are but one species of violence, and that in fact school violence comes in many different forms, from bullying on campus to trauma off campus, from community gangs to violent crimes. In the first part of the book, readers are introduced to important concepts related to school violence, beginning with background information on topics that are foundational to an understanding of threat and risk assessments, such as immaturity, impulsivity, and aggression. Next, the narrative moves to the skills needed to perform threat assessment and violence risk assessment in a manner that takes individual, school, and community variables into account. Finally, the authors present interventions for preventing, mitigating, and addressing school violence. In this final part, the authors summarize individual and school-based approaches to preventing violence and intervening after violence has occurred.

Concise, accessible, and thorough, Safe Passage: A Guide to Addressing School Violence is a necessary and welcome addition to the literature on this sobering topic.