Executive Summary
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Violent Deaths at School
Nonfatal Student Victimization-Student Reports
Violence and Crime at School-Public School Principal/ Disciplinarian Reports
Nonfatal Teacher Victimization at School-Teacher Reports
School Environment
Figures
Full Report (PDF - 2,265 KB)
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Key Findings
Some of the key findings from the various sections of this report are as follows:3
Violent Deaths at School
From July 1, 1997 through June 30, 1998, there were 60 school-associated violent deaths in the United States. Forty-seven of these violent deaths were homicides, 12 were suicides, and one was a teenager killed by a law enforcement officer in the line of duty (Indicator 1). Thirty-five of the 47 school-associated homicides were of school age children. By comparison, a total of 2,752 children ages 5 through 19 were victims of homicide in the United States from July 1, 1997 through June 30, 1998. Seven of the 12 school-associated suicides occurring from July 1, 1997 through June 30, 1998 were of school age children. A total of 2,061 children ages 5 through 19 committed suicide
that year.
Nonfatal Student Victimization-Student Reports
Students ages 12 through 18 were more likely to be victims of nonfatal serious violent crime—including rape, sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault—away from school than when they were at school (Indicator 2). In 1998, students in this age range were victims of about 550,000 serious violent crimes away from schools, compared with about 253,000 at school.
- The percentage of students in grades 9 through 12 who have been threatened or injured with a weapon on school property4 has not changed significantly in recent years. In 1993, 1995, and 1997, about 7 to 8 percent of students reported being threatened or injured with a weapon such as a gun, knife, or club on school property in the past 12 months (Indicator 4).
- In 1998, 12- through 18-year-old students living in urban, suburban, and rural locales were equally vulnerable to serious violent crime and theft at school. Away from school, however, urban and suburban students were more vulnerable to serious violent crime and theft than were rural students. (Indicator 2).
- Younger students (ages 12 through 14) were more likely than older students (ages 15 through 18) to be victims of crime at school. However, older students were more likely than younger students to be victimized away from school (Indicator 2).
Violence and Crime at School-Public School Principal/Disciplinarian Reports
In 1996–97, 10 percent of all public schools reported at least one serious violent crime to the police or a law enforcement representative. Principals’ reports of serious violent crimes included murder, rape or other type of sexual battery, suicide, physical attack or fight with a weapon, or robbery. Another 47 percent of public schools reported a less serious violent or nonviolent crime (but not a serious violent one). Crimes in this category include physical attack
or fight without a weapon, theft/larceny, and vandalism. The remaining 43 percent of public schools did not report any of these crimes to the police (Indicator 8).
- Elementary schools were much less likely than either middle or high schools to report any type of crime in
1996–97. They were much more likely to report vandalism (31 percent) than any other crime (19 percent or less) (Indicator 9).
- At the middle and high school levels, physical attack or fight without a weapon was generally the most commonly reported crime in 1996–97 (9 and 8 per 1,000 students, respectively). Theft or larceny was more common at the high school than at the middle school level (6 versus 4 per 1,000 students) (Indicator 9).
Nonfatal Teacher Victimization at School-Teacher Reports
Over the 5-year period from 1994 through 1998, teachers were victims of 1,755,000 nonfatal crimes at school, including 1,087,000 thefts and 668,000 violent crimes (rape or sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated and simple assault) (Indicator 10). This translates into 83 crimes per 1,000 teachers per year.
- In the period from 1994 through 1998, senior high school and middle/junior high school teachers were more likely to be victims of violent crimes (most of which were simple assaults) than elementary school teachers (38 and 60, respectively, versus 18 crimes per 1,000 teachers) (Indicator 10).
- In the 1993–94 school year, 12 percent of all elementary and secondary school teachers were threatened with injury by a student, and 4 percent were physically attacked by a student. This represented about 341,000 teachers who were victims of threats of injury by students that year, and 119,000 teachers who were victims of attacks by students (Indicator 11).
School Environment
Between 1995 and 1999, the percentages of students who felt unsafe while they were at school and while they were going to and from school decreased. In 1995, 9 percent of students ages 12 through 18 sometimes or most of the time feared they were going to be attacked or harmed at school. In 1999, this percentage had fallen to 5 percent. During the same period, the percentage of students fearing they would be attacked while traveling to and from school fell from 7 percent to 4 percent (Indicator 13).
- Between 1993 and 1997, the percentage of students in grades 9 through 12 who reported carrying a weapon on school property within the previous 30 days fell from 12 percent to 9 percent (a 25 percent reduction) (Indicator 12).
- Between 1995 and 1999, the percentage of students ages 12 through 18 who avoided one or more places at school for fear of their own safety decreased, from 9 to 5 percent. In 1999, this percentage represented 1.1 million students (Indicator 14).
- Between 1995 and 1999, the percentage of students who reported that street gangs were present at their schools decreased. In 1995, 29 percent of students reported gangs being present in their schools. By 1999, this percentage had fallen to 17 percent (Indicator 16).
- In 1997, about 51 percent of students in grades 9 through 12 had at least one drink of alcohol in the previous 30 days. A much smaller percentage (about 6 percent) had at least one drink on school property during the same period (Indicator 18).
- There was an increase in the use of marijuana among students between 1993 and 1995, but no change between 1995 and 1997. About one quarter (26 percent) of ninth graders reported using marijuana in the last 30 days in 1997. However, marijuana use on school property did not increase significantly between 1993 and 1995, nor between 1995 and 1997 (Indicator 19).
- In 1995 and 1997, almost one-third of all students in grades 9 through 12 (32 percent) reported that someone had offered, sold, or given them an illegal drug on school property. This was an increase from 1993 when 24 percent of such students reported that illegal drugs were available to them on school property (Indicator 20).
- In 1999, about 13 percent of students ages 12 through 18 reported that someone at school had used hate-related words against them. That is, in the prior 6 months someone at school called them a derogatory word having to do with race/ethnicity, religion, disability, gender, or sexual orientation. In addition, about 36 percent of students saw hate-related graffiti at school (Indicator 15).
3 All comparisons reported here were statistically significant at the 0.05 level. See appendix B for details on the methods used here.
4 Definitions for “on school property” and “at school” may differ. See appendix C for specific definitions.
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