Adolescence is a distinct, yet transient, period of development between childhood and adulthood characterized by increased experimentation and risk-taking, a tendency to discount long-term consequences, and heightened sensitivity to peers and other social influences. A key function of adolescence is developing an integrated sense of self, including individualization, separation from parents, and personal identity. Experimentation and novelty-seeking behavior, such as alcohol and drug use, unsafe sex, and reckless driving, are thought to serve a number of adaptive functions despite their risks. Research indicates that for most youth, the period of risky experimentation does not extend beyond adolescence, ceasing as identity becomes settled with maturity. Much adolescent involvement in criminal activity is part of the normal developmental process of identity formation and most adolescents will mature out of these tendencies. Evidence of significant changes in brain structure and function during adolescence strongly suggests that these cognitive tendencies characteristic of adolescents are associated with biological immaturity of the brain and with an imbalance among developing brain systems. This imbalance model implies dual systems: one involved in cognitive and behavioral control and one involved in socio-emotional processes. Accordingly adolescents lack mature capacity for self-regulations because the brain system that influences pleasure-seeking and emotional reactivity develops more rapidly than the brain system that supports self-control. This knowledge of adolescent development has underscored important differences between adults and adolescents with direct bearing on the design and operation of the justice system, raising doubts about the core assumptions driving the criminalization of juvenile justice policy in the late decades of the 20th century. It was in this context that the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) asked the National Research Council to convene a committee to conduct a study of juvenile justice reform. The goal of Reforming Juvenile Justice: A Developmental Approach was to review recent advances in behavioral and neuroscience research and draw out the implications of this knowledge for juvenile justice reform, to assess the new generation of reform activities occurring in the United States, and to assess the performance of OJJDP in carrying out its statutory mission as well as its potential role in supporting scientifically based reform efforts.

The phenomena of mass shootings appear to be on the rise. Within the past decade, shootings have occurred in schools, religious institutions, concerts, movie theaters, and other public venues, as well as at home in the form of domestic mass shootings. This phenomenon is influenced by factors such as access to guns, mental illness, the desire for fame, revenge from being bullied, and copycat killing to name a few. Mass shootings are a serious problem for society and must be explored further in order to provide preventive solutions. The Handbook of Research on Mass Shootings and Multiple Victim Violence is a pivotal reference source that provides vital research on contributing factors to gun violence, characteristics of shooters and victims, solutions for preventing incidents from occurring, and the impact these shootings have on the community. While highlighting topics such as school safety, cyberbullying, and mental illness, this publication is ideally designed for law enforcement, government officials, psychologists, psychiatrists, sociologists, politicians, policymakers, law makers, academicians, researchers, and students seeking current research on the latest empirical findings of mass shootings in the United States.

The Wiley Handbook on the Psychology of Violence features a collection of original readings, from an international cast of experts, that explore all major issues relating to the psychology of violence and aggressive behaviors. Features original contributions from an interdisciplinary cast of scholars - leading experts in their fields of study Includes the latest violence research – and its implications for practice and policy Offers coverage of current issues relating to violence such as online violence and cybercriminal behavior Covers additional topics such as juvenile violence, sexual violence, family violence, and various violence issues relating to underserved and/or understudied populations

The report categorizes school safety technologies, summarizes research on school violence, presents six case studies of innovative technologies, and summarizes experts' views of technologies and safety problems and their rankings of technology needs.