Introduction to Special Issue: The Legacy of Columbine—Implications for Policy After 20 Years

• Published date: 01 August 2019
• Date: 01 August 2019
• DOI: 10.1177/1043986219840163
• Subject Matter: Introduction

https://doi.org/10.1177/1043986219840163

Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice

2019, Vol. 35(3) 268 –273

© The Author(s) 2019

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DOI: 10.1177/1043986219840163

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Introduction

Introduction to Special Issue:

The Legacy of Columbine—

Implications for Policy After

20 Years

Lynn A. Addington1 and Glenn W. Muschert2

Abstract

This introduction provides an overview to the special issue, which marks the twentieth

anniversary of the shootings at Columbine High School by considering the effect

on policy addressing school violence and mass shootings. We asked each of the

contributors to consider changes in their area of interest over the past two decades as

well as future research and policy issues. The resulting five contributions take various

forms: three are traditional scholarly articles, one is a personal commentary, and one

is an afterword that combines a scholarly format with professional reflection. In our

introduction, we summarize each one. As each article identifies the need for continued

work in this area, and we conclude by providing a few examples of this research.

Keywords

school shootings, school security policy, Columbine

This special issue provides both retrospective and prospective considerations regard-

ing the influence of the April 20, 1999 Columbine High School shootings on the devel-

opment of policy to address school violence specifically and respond to mass shootings

overall. Given this year’s 20th anniversary of Columbine, we use this event as the

organizing point for the articles in this special issue with the acknowledgment that

additional incidents (particularly school shootings) and other societal changes in the

subsequent years also affected policy decisions.

1American University, Washington, DC, USA

2Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Corresponding Author:

Lynn A. Addington, Department of Justice, Law & Criminology, American University, 4400 Massachusetts

Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20016-8043, USA.

Email: adding@american.edu

840163CCJXXX10.1177/1043986219840163Journal of Contemporary Criminal JusticeAddington and Muschert

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