Equity in law enforcement actions following a school threat assessment

• NCJ Number: 310735
• Journal: Law and Human Behavior Volume: 49 Issue: 4 Dated: August 2025 Pages: 338-352
• Date Published: August 2025
• Author(s): Dewey G. Cornell; Jennifer Maeng; Sonja D. Winter; Francis Huang; Timothy R. Konold; Jordan Kerere; Kelvin Afolabi; Deanne Cowley
• Length: 15 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2020-RF-CX-0002
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)

Abstract

Objective: Behavioral threat assessment and management (BTAM) is a form of violence risk assessment that has been widely adopted in U.S. public schools. However, there are concerns that the involvement of law enforcement officers in schools on BTAM teams could lead to criminalization of student misbehavior and exacerbate disparities in arrests for students of color and students with disabilities. This study investigated school-based arrests, court charges, and incarcerations for a sample of 18,411 Florida students in 1,646 schools who received a threat assessment using the Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines. Hypotheses: Consistent with prior studies, we hypothesized that law enforcement actions would have a low prevalence and there would be no disparities associated with race/ethnicity, family income, or disability status. Method: A series of Bayesian multilevel logistic regression models was estimated to evaluate whether law enforcement actions (arrest, charge, incarceration) varied by school-level characteristics and student-level regressors (demographics and threat classification). Results: Approximately 1% of students received a law enforcement action. Law enforcement actions were associated most strongly with student grade and seriousness of their threat. There was evidence of equitable law enforcement actions for student characteristics of race/ethnicity, family income, and disability status. Conclusion: These results are consistent with prior studies in smaller samples of Virginia schools. This study contributes to the policy debate over the role of law enforcement officers in schools by showing that schools using threat assessment teams with officers did not generate high rates of law enforcement actions or inequitable outcomes often observed for disadvantaged student groups. (Publisher abstract provided.)