Student Victimization

• The overall level of victimization in schools in 1995, 14.6 percent, was similar to that in 1989, 14.5 percent. There was an increase in the percentage of students reporting violent victimizations, however, increasing from 3.4 percent to 4.2 percent.

• In 1995, male students (5.1 percent) were more likely than female students (3.3 percent) to have experienced violent victimization at school. A similar relationship also existed between violent victimization and gender in 1989.
• While the percent of male students who reported having experienced violent victimization at school was about the same in 1989 as it was in 1995, there was an increase in the percent of female students who reported.

• Younger students were more likely to experience violent victimization than were older students in both 1989 and 1995.

• In 1995, only 2.7 percent of students who reported no street gang presence at school experienced violent victimization compared to 7.5 percent who reported street gang presence at school. Similar results occurred in 1989. (See figure 9 and table 4 for reported prevalence of street gangs at school.)
• Between 1989 and 1995, the percent of students reporting that they were violently victimized at school did not noticeably change among students who reported street gang presence at school, nor did it noticeably change among students who reported no street gang presence at school.

• Of those students who reported seeing a student with a gun at school, 12.4 percent reported being victims of violent crime at school compared to 3.8 percent of those who had not. (See table 5 for student reports of seeing a student with a gun at school.)

Additional findings about student reports of victimization at school from table 1:

• Student reports of having experienced violent victimization at school were relatively uniform across the different places of residence in 1995 when 4.7 percent of students residing in central cities, 4.4 percent of those residing in suburbs, and 3.5 percent of students residing in nonmetropolitan areas reported such victimization. The same was true in 1989.
• Public school students were more likely to report having experienced violent victimization (4.4 percent) than were private school students (2.3 percent) in 1995. However, public (3.5 percent) and private school students (2.9 percent) were about as likely to report having experienced violent victimization in 1989.
• In 1995, students who reported that drugs were available at school were more likely to report having been violently victimized than students who reported that no drugs were available (4.7 percent v. 3.0 percent). Similar results occurred in 1989. (See figure 6 and table 2 for student reports of drug availability at school.)