Foreword

Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2005 provides the most recent national indicators on school crime and safety. These indicators demonstrate that improvements have occurred in student safety. The violent crime victimization rate at school declined from 48 violent victimizations per 1,000 students in 1992 to 28 such victimizations in 2003. Even so, violence, theft, bullying, drugs, and weapons are still widespread. In 2003, students ages 12-18 were victims of about 740,000 violent crimes and 1.2 million crimes of theft at school. Seven percent of students ages 12-18 reported that they had been bullied, 29 percent of students in grades 9-12 reported that drugs were made available to them on school property, and 9 percent of students were threatened or injured with a weapon on school property.

Accurate information about the nature, extent, and scope of the problem being addressed is essential for developing effective programs and policies. The information in this report is intended to serve as a reference for policymakers and practitioners in the development of effective programs and policies aimed at violence and school crime prevention.

This is the eighth edition of Indicators of School Crime and Safety, a joint publication of the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the National Center for Education Statistics. This report provides detailed statistics to inform the nation on the current status of crime and safety in schools.

The 2005 edition of Indicators includes the most recent available data, compiled from a number of statistical data sources supported by the federal government. Such sources include results from a study of violent deaths in schools, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; the National Crime Victimization Survey and School Crime Supplement to the survey, sponsored by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the National Center for Education Statistics, respectively; the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and the Schools and Staffing Survey and School Survey on Crime and Safety, both sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics.

The entire report is available on the Internet. The Bureau of Justice Statistics and the National Center for Education Statistics continue to work toward providing timely and complete data on the issues of school-related violence and safety.