Voices Against Violence
A data-driven examination of the causes, impacts, and preventative measures for school shootings. This project offers an analysis through statistical trends and expert interpretations, aiming to provide actionable insights into how we can create safer educational environments
Voices Against Violence
Intro to Our Project.
In the past few decades, school shootings have become a distressing and recurrent issue in the United States, sparking nationwide debates and prompting urgent calls for effective preventative measures. These incidents not only disrupt the educational process but also leave profound and lasting impacts on communities, spreading fear and grief across the nation. Since the Columbine High School massacre in 1999, there have been over 300 school shooting incidents that have not only escalated in frequency but have also intensified discussions on public safety and gun control, signaling an urgent need for comprehensive policy responses.
Our project delves into the complex landscape of K-12 school shootings from 1999 to 2023, leveraging comprehensive data from the Washington Post School Shooting Database. The objective is to unearth patterns and trends in these tragic events, focusing on how frequency, severity, and the characteristics of affected schools have evolved over time. By analyzing data spanning nearly a quarter century, this research aims to identify patterns and trends that shed light on the factors influencing the occurrence of school shootings. Through this investigation, the study seeks to offer insights that can inform more effective interventions and policies aimed at preventing future tragedies.
Research Questions
From Tragedy to Understanding: Analyzing the Multifaceted Causes and Far-Reaching Consequences of School Shootings
1. “Trends in K-12 Shootings”
What are the trends in K-12 school shootings in the United States from 1999 to 2023, and how have these trends evolved in terms of frequency and severity?
2. “Demographics and School Shootings”
How does the demographics of K-12 schools, specifically student racial composition and socioeconomic status, correlate with the incidence of school shootings in the United States?
3. “Shooter-School Relationship Impact”
How does the shooter’s relationship to the school influence the type of school shootings most frequently experienced in the United States?
An Interactive Look Into US K-12 School Shootings
Hover over the dots on the interactive dot map visualization created from data from the Washington Post’s School Shooting Database to view school shooting incidents from 1999 – 2023. Each dot provides details on the date of the shooting, the location, school name, number of casualties, injuries, and fatalities. In addition, the map can be filtered by year by checking the boxes on the right side of the visualization. This dot map was created using Tableau. For more information on the datasource, check out our Data Critique by clicking the button below.
Table of Contents
Data Critique
- Data Introduction: Includes data on school shootings post-1999 Columbine massacre
- More about Data: Source, generating process, and limitations
Narrative
- Trends Analysis: Frequency and severity evolution.
- Demographic Insights: Correlation with school shootings.
- Shooter Relationships: Influence on shooting types.
About
- Data processing methods: Describes the project’s methodology and the software tools utilized.
- Meet The Team
- Bibliography