Executive Director, Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium
Jaclyn Schildkraut, PhD, is the executive director of the Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium. Prior to this appointment, she served as an associate professor of criminal justice at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Oswego. A national expert on school and mass shootings, Schildkraut’s work focuses on the effectiveness of policies aimed at prevention, mitigation, response, and recovery. Her most recent research, conducted as part of the largest study in the nation to date, examined the effects of school lockdown drills on participants and their skill mastery. In addition to being published in a book and multiple journal articles, the findings of this research are being used by school districts to help improve their emergency response plans. She also has conducted and published research examining the impacts of mass shootings on survivors, which led to her providing an expert report for Canada’s Mass Casualty Commission charged with investigating the April 2020 mass casualty event in Nova Scotia. Other recent projects have considered perceptions of armed teachers and policy responses to mass shootings.
Schildkraut is the co-author of Mass Shootings: Media, Myths and Realities (2016); Columbine, 20 Years Later and Beyond: Lessons from Tragedy (2019); and Lockdown Drills: Connecting Research and Best Practices for School Administrators, Teachers, and Parents (2022). She served as the editor on two additional volumes—Mass Shootings in America: Understanding the Debate, Causes, and Responses (2018) and Guns in American Society: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics, Culture, and the Law (3rd edition; 2022), and has two additional books under contract. Her research related to mass and school shootings also has been published more than 40 scholarly articles that appear in journals such as the American Journal of Criminal Justice, Homicide Studies, Journal of School Violence, Victims & Offenders, School Psychology Review, Educational Policy, Security Journal, and Crime Prevention and Community Safety. Schildkraut’s research and expertise are regularly sought after by local, national, and international news outlets, including CNN, Fox News, The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, Associated Press, Reuters, BBC News, and The Telegraph (UK).
Ep. 97. Firearm Safe Storage & Suicide Prevention
September 12, 2024
Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium (RGVRC) Affiliate Scholar Hannah Klein joins RGVRC Executive Director Jaclyn Schildkraut to discuss firearm safe storage and its role in suicide prevention. Continue Reading...
Ep. 96. Alcohol and Firearm Misuse
July 8, 2024
Maryland State Senator Cory McCray joins Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium Executive Director Jaclyn Schildkraut to discuss policy that addresses the dangerous intersection of alcohol and firearm misuse. Continue Reading...
June 24, 2024
Members of the Institute's Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium react to the US Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Rahimi. Continue Reading...
Supporting Survivors of Mass Public Shootings: Where Do We Begin?
May 31, 2024
For National Gun Violence Awareness Month, Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium Executive Director Jaclyn Schildkraut looks at how we can support the survivors of mass public shootings. Continue Reading...
25 Years Later: The Lasting Impact of Columbine on Gun Violence Prevention and Response
April 19, 2024
The tragedy at Columbine High School shaped how we work to prevent mass shootings from occurring and how we respond when they do happen. Continue Reading...
January 24, 2024
Insights from the DOJ's critical incident review of the May 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary. Continue Reading...
2023 Year in Review: Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium
December 12, 2023
A lookback at the research of the Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium in 2023. Continue Reading...
August 30, 2023
While more than 98 percent of K-12 schools conduct lockdown drills, there is variability in state requirements for the number and types of drills that should be conducted. The School Lockdown Drill Regulations Dashboard provides easy insight into how these requirements differ across states. Continue Reading...
Can Mass Shootings be Stopped?
July 27, 2023
This brief presents an analysis of 57 years of mass shootings data (1966–2022), including information on characteristics of perpetrators, types of firearms used, victimization, and an overview of how often and where mass public shootings occur. Continue Reading...
Priorities for Reducing Gun Violence: Key Takeaways from the RGVRC Webinar
May 11, 2023
Five key takeaways from our April 19th webinar, "2023 Policy Priorities for Gun Violence." Continue Reading...
Updated Insights from the Gun Violence Data Dashboard
March 30, 2023
Insights from the most recent update to the CDC's data on firearm mortality (2021). Continue Reading...
For Gun Violence Survivors Awareness Week, We Must Honor and Support All Who Are Impacted
February 7, 2023
The impacts of gun violence, however, are much broader than the injuries we can see, and the statistics and stories shared, particularly through mainstream media, often fail to account for those we can’t see. Continue Reading...
2022 Year-in-Review: Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium
December 20, 2022
A lookback at the research of the Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium in 2022. Continue Reading...
Ep. 56. Second Chances Matter: Reducing Firearm Suicides
September 27, 2022
Jaclyn Schildkraut, interim executive director of the Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium and Michael Anestis, executive director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center discuss the risk factors associated with firearm suicide as well as what policies and tools exist to help to mitigate firearm suicides. Continue Reading...
Lockdown Drills: A Widely Used Yet Often Misunderstood Practice
August 16, 2022
An overview of the scholarly evidence surrounding lockdown drills and best practice considerations. Continue Reading...
Community Gun Violence: A Significant Contributor to Rising Firearm Violence
July 18, 2022
This blog presents research on community gun violence and sets the stage for the Institute's webinar, "Deploying Community Gun Violence Interventions." Continue Reading...
Ep. 52. Changing How We Talk about Mass Shootings
June 28, 2022
A recorded Twitter Spaces conversation between Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium Interim Executive Director Jaclyn Schildkraut and New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center Executive Director Michael Anestis on changing the way we talk about and respond to mass shootings. Continue Reading...
Mass Shootings: The Motives Vary, but the Path to Violence Is Largely the Same
June 3, 2022
Understanding how mass shooting events occur presents policymakers with a broader array of policy options for prevention than simply focusing on a shooter's motives. Continue Reading...
Can Mass Shootings be Stopped?
July 15, 2021
Public mass shootings have increased in frequency and lethality over the past 55 years. This policy brief examines trends in mass shootings and details broader concerns for policymakers and practitioners. Continue Reading...
Assault Weapons, Mass Shootings, and Options for Lawmakers
March 21, 2019
While the proportion of mass shootings carried out with an assault-style rifle has held fairly steady over the past 30 years, they are far more deadly than those involving a handgun Continue Reading...
Can Mass Shootings be Stopped?
March 1, 2019
Columbine spurred a national debate — from personal safety to the security of schools, workplaces, and other locations and to broader considerations of guns and mental illness. To this day, communities still are grappling to find solutions to the complex and multifaceted nature of mass shootings. Continue Reading...
Arming Teachers: Does the Proposed Policy Miss the Mark?
October 1, 2018
While no data exist to support the assertion that the presence of armed individuals has been or would be successful in stopping school shootings, there is evidence that indicates that such a policy would fail to meet its intended goals. Continue Reading...
Mass Shootings Can Be Prevented … and the Media Are a Good Place to Start
June 15, 2018
By engaging in more responsible reporting through the limiting of the use of the perpetrators’ names and images, the media actually may be able to save lives and help to achieve the long-standing goal of reducing mass shootings in the United States. Continue Reading...
March 21, 2018
To date, ten states have enacted legislation to permit concealed carry license holder to carry guns on university campuses. A study of two distinct geographic regions concludes that both region and gun ownership strongly predict attitudes favorable of such laws, but do so independent of one another. Continue Reading...
Laws That Bit The Bullet: A Review of Legislative Responses to School Shootings
The flurry of legislative responses to school shootings warrants further discussion as to whether these bills are effective, or rather simply “feel good legislation.” This paper proposes directions for continued research in this critical and understudied area. Continue Reading...
March 20, 2018
Nearly as soon as the first shot is fired in a mass shooting, the news media already are rushing to break coverage, the likes of which typically last days or, in the more extreme cases, weeks. Though mass shootings are rare in occurrence, the disproportionate amount of coverage they receive in the media leads the public to believe that they occur at a much more regular frequency than they do. Continue Reading...