• Introduction
• Key Findings

The American public continues to be concerned about crime in schools and the safety of students. In part, this concern has been shaped by highly publicized acts of extreme school violence, which have intensified the attention placed on student safety. To obtain a more complete picture of the prevalence of school violence and the safety of students in American schools, it is important to collect data to permit these issues of school safety to be studied. The School Crime Supplement (SCS) to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) is one measure of the prevalence of criminal victimization at school and students' perceptions of their school environment. Jointly designed by the Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics and the Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics, the SCS has collected data on school crime and related topics concerning the school safety of 12- through 18-year-old students in 1989, 1995, and 1999. This report is the first to focus on data collected by the 1999 SCS.

• In 1999, 12.2 percent of students ages 12 through 18 reported experiencing any violent or property victimization at school in the previous 6 months (figure A).* Specifically, 4.0 percent of students reported experiencing violent victimization at school and 7.7 percent of students reported property victimization at school.
• Students who reported the presence of street gangs at school were more likely to experience any victimization at school (18.4 percent) than those who did not report gang presence (10.8 percent).
• Those who reported knowing another student who brought a gun to school were more likely to report any victimization at school (20.1 percent) than those who did not know such a student (11.6 percent). In addition, 24.3 percent of students who reported actually seeing another student with a gun reported being the victim of any crime at school, compared to 11.9 percent of those who did not see such a student.

• In 1999, most victimizations that occurred at school to 12- through 18-year-olds were not reported to the police (88.3 percent). Of those that were not reported to police, the most common reason given for not reporting the incident was that it was reported to a teacher or other school official (37.2 percent).
• There were no differences detected in the rates of victimizations occurring in classrooms, hallways or stairwells, and bathrooms or locker rooms.

• In 1999, 36.9 percent of 12- through 18-year-old students reported that drugs were available at school and 20.2 percent of 12- through 18-year-old students reported that alcohol was available at school (figure B).
• Twelve- through 18-year-old students from households with incomes of $50,000 or more were generally more likely than students from households with incomes of less than $7,500 to report that drugs (41.0 percent vs. 22.8 percent, respectively) and alcohol (23.6 percent vs. 10.4 percent, respectively) were available at their school.
• Suburban students (39.5 percent) were more likely than urban students (33.7 percent) to report drug availability at school. Both suburban (21.6 percent) and rural (23.0 percent) students were more likely than urban students (15.1 percent) to report alcohol availability at school.
• Those students who reported the presence of street gangs at school were more likely to report that drugs and alcohol were available at their school than those who did not report gang presence (for drugs, 62.9 percent vs. 31.6 percent, respectively; for alcohol, 33.1 percent vs. 17.8 percent, respectively).
• Approximately 34.8 percent of students reported that marijuana was available at their school. This was higher than the percentage reporting the availability of alcohol (20.2 percent), crack (13.4 percent), other forms of cocaine (12.0 percent), uppers/downers (15.5 percent), LSD (10.7 percent), PCP (6.4 percent), heroin (6.7 percent), or other drugs (4.4 percent). Of students who said marijuana was available, 79.3 percent reported that it was easy or fairly easy to obtain marijuana at their school.

• Student reports of the presence of street gangs at school dropped from 28.4 percent in 1995 to 17.3 percent in 1999.
• In 1999, Hispanic (28.3 percent) and Black, non-Hispanic students (24.7 percent) were more likely to report the presence of street gangs at school than were White, non-Hispanic students (13.1 percent).
• While students from urban households (25.1 percent) were more likely than their suburban (15.8 percent) and rural (11.1 percent) counterparts to report the presence of street gangs at school, the percentage of students from urban areas reporting gang presence decreased from 40.5 percent in 1995 to 25.1 percent in 1999.

• In 1999, a very small percentage of 12- through 18-year-old students (0.3 percent) reported bringing a gun to school for protection in the previous 6 months. A larger percentage of students (1.5 per-cent) reported bringing any weapon to school for protection.
• Students who reported violent victimization at school were more likely to report bringing a weapon to school for protection. In 1999, 3.6 percent of students who experienced violent victimization and 3.9 percent who reported being bullied at school also reported bringing a weapon to school, compared to 1.4 percent who did not experience violent victimization and 1.4 percent who did not report being bullied.
• Fewer students reported knowing or seeing another student with a gun at school in 1999 than in 1995. In 1995, 12.7 percent of students reported knowing another student who brought a gun to school, compared to 7.5 percent in 1999. In 1995, 5.3 per-cent of students reported seeing another student with a gun at school, compared to 2.8 percent in 1999.

• In 1999, 13.2 percent of students reported being called a hate-related word at school. Black, non-Hispanic students (16.5 percent) were more likely than White, non-Hispanic (12.6 percent) or Hispanic (12.1 percent) students to report that they had been called a hate-related word at school.
• Approximately 36.3 percent of students reported seeing hate-related graffiti at school. Reports of hate-related graffiti varied by gender (38.9 percent of females vs. 33.8 percent of males) and by school type (38.0 percent of public school vs. 20.6 percent of private school students).

• In 1999, 5.1 percent of 12- through 18-year-old students reported that they were bullied at school during the past 6 months.
• Students in lower grades were more likely to be bullied than were those in higher grades. In 1999, 10.5 percent of 6th-graders reported being the victim of bullying compared to 1.2 percent of 12th-graders.
• Student reports of experiencing bullying at school were similar regardless of the presence of security measures such as security guards, staff hallway monitors, and metal detectors at the school.

• Very few students engage in avoidance behavior due to concern that someone might harm them. In 1999, 2.3 percent of students reported that they avoided school, 0.6 percent of students reported that they avoided class, and 0.8 percent of students reported that they avoided participating in extracurricular activities during the past 6 months.

• In 1999, 5.3 percent of students reported that they feared being attacked or harmed while at school while 3.9 percent feared harm while traveling to and from school.
• Students who had experienced any victimization at school were more likely to fear being harmed at school (13.4 percent) than those who had not been victimized (4.2 percent). In addition, 7.7 percent of those who had been victimized reported fear while traveling to and from school, compared to 3.4 percent who had not been victimized.
• Students who had experienced bullying at school were also more likely to fear being attacked or harmed at school than those who had not (27.5 percent vs. 4.1 percent, respectively). Approximately 11.6 percent of students who reported being bullied also responded that they were fearful while traveling to and from school compared to 3.5 percent who had not been bullied.

• Students who were interviewed after the April 1999 shootings at Columbine High School were more likely to report fear of harm or attack at school (6.3 percent) than those interviewed before the incident (4.8 percent). Students reported similar levels of fear while traveling to and from school and outside of school after the incident as they did before.
• After the shootings at Columbine High School, students were more likely to report knowing another student who brought a gun to school than before (6.7 percent before vs. 9.0 percent after). Before the date of the Columbine incident, 2.4 percent of students reported actually seeing another student with a gun at school, compared to 3.6 percent afterward.