“It’s Better to Overreact”: School Officials’ Fear and Perceived Risk of Rampage Attacks and the Criminalization of American Public Schools

Media Coverage of Mass Killers: Content, Consequences, and Solutions

“…For example, too often, media accounts have promulgated inaccurate stereotypes and given viewers and readers the misguided sense that most mass shooters are psychopathic or psychotic loners (Madfis, 2014). Many scholars have also documented the excessive public fear that people have of these attacks, largely due to the news they consume (Altheide, 2009; Madfis, 2016, 2017). Such deadly incidents certainly warrant major concern and consideration, but problems emerge when people, including community leaders and law enforcement officials, believe that mass killings occur far more frequently than they actually do (Madfis, 2016).…”

“…Many scholars have also documented the excessive public fear that people have of these attacks, largely due to the news they consume (Altheide, 2009; Madfis, 2016, 2017). Such deadly incidents certainly warrant major concern and consideration, but problems emerge when people, including community leaders and law enforcement officials, believe that mass killings occur far more frequently than they actually do (Madfis, 2016). These misconceptions may be attributable to the extensive volume of media coverage given to mass killings and the sensationalistic ways in which coverage often focuses on perpetrators rather than on less exciting statistics about how rare these events actually are.…”

Don’t Name Them, Don’t Show Them, But Report Everything Else: A Pragmatic Proposal for Denying Mass Killers the Attention They Seek and Deterring Future Offenders

“…While mass shootings remain extremely rare events, these incidents warrant serious concern because when they do occur, they not only cause multiple casualties and devastate communities, but they also leave some survivors, bystanders, and reporters with posttraumatic stress (Backholm, Moritz, & Björkqvist, 2012; Schwarz & Kowalski, 1991) and create extensive fear among the larger public (Altheide, 2009; Madfis, 2016). Unfortunately, after more than 50 years of high-profile mass shootings, the United States has not made even small strides toward reducing the prevalence of these attacks.…”

School Counselors' Experiences With Lockdown Drills: A Phenomenological Investigation

“…As relayed in the first and third themes (school counselors' sense of duty to follow school protocol and school counselors navigating complexities), school counselors largely felt an obligation to comply with lockdown procedures and, at times, questioned the appropriateness of their roles and the protocol. Relatedly, because of the significant tragedy of school shootings, these incidents are highly publicized and can result in a ripple effect of panic, leading to fear-based, reactive, and hastily implemented school-based safety procedures lacking evidence (Bonanno & Levenson, 2014;Jonson, 2017;King & Bracy, 2019;Madfis, 2016). Given that the school counselors in the present study questioned lockdown protocols and described corresponding challenges, schools implementing lockdown drills must base their lockdown protocols-and all other safety-related decisions-on research and best practices.…”