School Crime and Punishment and the Implementation of Security Cameras: Findings from a National Longitudinal Study

Abstract

Since the late 1990s, school security cameras have become one of the most common interventions for preventing and detecting school crime and violence. However, existing theoretical and empirical literature on the effects of school security cameras offer contrasting expectations. This study uses multiple waves of the nationally representative School Survey on Crime and Safety to create a two-wave longitudinal sample of schools (N = 850). It examines the relationship between implementing school security cameras and outcomes related to crimes recorded by the school, crimes reported to police, the frequency of social disturbances, and the amount of exclusionary punishment administered. Findings indicated null effects across all outcomes and in a number of alternate specifications, showing that the patterns of crime and punishment in schools that implemented cameras were similar to those in schools that did not. These findings are interpreted in light of theoretical and practical considerations.

Keywords:

• School safety
• school security
• school discipline
• surveillance

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Benjamin W. Fisher

Benjamin W. Fisher, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Louisville. His research focuses on school safety, security, and discipline with a particular emphasis on how contextual factors shape school and student outcomes.

Ethan M. Higgins

Ethan Higgins is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. His research interests focus on qualitative methods and theoretical criminology. His work has recently been published in Deviant Behavior, Crime Prevention and Community Safety, and the Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Criminology.

Emily M. Homer

Emily M. Homer is a doctoral student of Criminal Justice at the University of Louisville. She holds a Bachelor’s of Criminal Justice from Tiffin University and a Master’s of Arts from Wright State University. Her primary research interests include causes, theories, and punishment of white collar crimes.