Nonfatal Teacher Victimization at School-
Teacher Reports

Students are not the only ones who are victims of crime at school. Teachers in school are also the targets of violence. In addition to the personal toll such violence takes on teachers, teachers who worry for their safety may have difficulty teaching and may leave the profession altogether. Information on the number of crimes against teachers at school can help show how severe and widespread the problem is. 

• Over the 5-year period from 1992 and 1996, teachers were the victims of 1,581,000 nonfatal crimes at school, including 962,000 thefts and 619,000 violent crimes (rape or sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault) (table 9.1). On average, this translates into 316,000 nonfatal crimes per year. Among the violent crimes against teachers, there were about 89,000 serious violent crimes (14 percent of the violent crimes), including rape or sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault. On average, this translates into 18,000 serious violent crimes per year.

• During the 1992-96 time period, the rate of serious violent crime at school was similar for elementary and secondary teachers (on average, 4 incidents per 1,000 teachers) regardless of their instructional level, sex, race-ethnicity, and the urbanicity of the schools where they taught (figure 9.1 and table 9.1).

• In the period from 1992 to 1996, middle and junior high school teachers were more likely to be victims of violent crimes (most of which were simple assaults) than senior high school teachers (59 versus 32 crimes per 1,000 teachers), who in turn were more likely to be victims of violent crime than elementary school teachers (32 versus 17 crimes per 1,000 teachers) (figure 9.1 and table 9.1).

• During the 1992-96 time period, compared with elementary school teachers, senior high school teachers were more likely to be targets of theft (64 versus 38 incidents per 1,000 teachers).

• The violent crime rate among teachers at school varied by sex. Over the 5-year period from 1992 to 1996, male teachers were more likely to be victims of violent crimes than female teachers (41 versus 26 crimes per 1,000 teachers) (figure 9.1 and table 9.1).

• Teachers were differentially affected by crimes at school according to where they taught. For example, during the 1992 to 1996 time period, urban teachers were more likely to be victims of violent crimes than suburban teachers (39 versus 20 crimes per 1,000 teachers). Urban teachers were also more likely to experience theft (57 incidents per 1,000 teachers) than suburban and rural teachers (37 and 32 incidents per 1,000 teachers, respectively) (figure 9.1 and table 9.1).

Some of the offenses against teachers are committed by students. Data on physical attacks and threats against elementary and secondary teachers by students can provide a snapshot of the prevalence of this problem.

• In the 1993-94 school year, 12 percent of all elementary and secondary school teachers (341,000) were threatened with injury by a student from their school, and 4 percent (120,000) were physically attacked by a student (table 10.1).

• Teachers in central city schools were more likely to be victims than were teachers in urban fringe or rural schools in 1993-94 (table 10.1). About 15 percent of teachers in central city schools had been threatened with injury by students, compared with 11 and 10 percent of teachers in urban fringe and rural schools. About 6 percent of teachers in central city schools had been attacked by students, compared with 4 and 3 percent of teachers in urban fringe and rural schools.

• Public school teachers were more likely than private school teachers to be victimized by students in school in 1993-94 (figure 10.1 and table 10.1). Almost 13 percent of public school teachers had been threatened with injury by students, compared with 4 percent of private school teachers, and 4 percent of public school teachers had been physically attacked by students, compared with 2 percent of private school teachers. Teachers in public central city schools were about five times more likely to be targets of threats of injury and about three times more likely to be targets of attacks than their colleagues in private central city schools.

• In 1993-94, secondary school teachers were more likely than elementary school teachers to have been threatened with injury by a student from their school (15 percent versus 9 percent) (table 10.1). However, elementary school teachers were more likely than secondary school teachers to have been physically attacked by a student (5 percent versus 3 percent). The prevalence of teacher victimization by students did not vary according to the racial-ethnic backgrounds of teachers.