• Organization of This Report
• Key Findings

In 2000, students ages 12 through 18 were victims of about 1.9 million total crimes of violence or theft at school. In that same year, students in this age range were victims of about 128,000 serious violent crimes at school (i.e., rape, sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault). There were also 47 school-associated violent deaths in the United States between July 1, 1998, and June 30, 1999, including 38 homicides, 33 of which involved school-aged children.

The total rate of nonfatal victimization at school for students ages 12 through 18 generally declined between 1992 and 2000, from 144 incidents per 1,000 students in 1992 to 72 per 1,000 students in 2000. The percentage of students being victimized at school also has declined over the last few years. Between 1995 and 2001, the percentage of students ages 12 through 18 who reported being victims of crime at school decreased from 10 percent to 6 percent. This decline was due in large part to the decrease in the percentage of students reporting being victims of theft at school, which declined from 7 percent in 1995 to 4 percent in 2001. However, the prevalence of other problem behavior at school has increased. For example, in 2001, 8 percent of students reported that they had been bullied at school in the last 6 months, up from 5 percent in 1999.

For some other types of crime at school, the prevalence has not changed. Between 1993 and 2001, the percentage of students in grades 9 through 12 who were threatened or injured with a weapon on school property in the past 12 months remained relatively constant—between 7 and 9 percent.

As the rates of criminal victimization in schools have declined or remained constant, students also seem to feel more secure at school now than just a few years ago. The percentage of students ages 12 through 18 who reported avoiding one or more places at school for their own safety decreased from 9 percent in 1995 to 5 percent in 1999 and 2001.

The data shown in this report present a mixed picture of school safety. While overall victimization rates have declined, more work needs to be done to address the issues related to school violence and safety.

This report, the fifth in a series of annual reports on school crime and safety from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) and the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), presents the latest available data on school crime and student safety. The report repeats many indicators from the 2001 report and also provides updated data on fatal and nonfatal student victimization; nonfatal teacher victimization and threats against teachers; and student reports of being threatened or injured with a weapon at school, being in fights at school, being bullied at school, and feeling unsafe at school. This report also includes updated data on students' reports of avoiding places at school, being called hate-related words, seeing hate-related graffiti, gangs at school, carrying weapons to school, using alcohol and marijuana, and drug availability on school property.

The report is organized as a series of indicators, with each indicator presenting data on a different aspect of school crime and safety. It starts with the most serious violence.

There are five sections to the report: 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; and School Environment. Each section contains a set of indicators that, taken together, describe a distinct aspect of school crime and safety.

Rather than relying on data from a large omnibus survey of school crime and safety, this report uses a variety of independent data sources from federal departments and agencies including the BJS, NCES, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Each data source has an independent sample design, data collection method, and questionnaire design, all of which may be influenced by the unique perspective of the primary funding agency. By combining multiple and independent sources of data, it is hoped that this report will present a more complete portrait of school crime and safety than would be possible with any single source of information.

However, because the report relies on so many different data sets, the age groups, the time periods, and the types of respondents analyzed can vary from indicator to indicator. Readers should keep this in mind as they compare data from different indicators. Furthermore, while every effort has been made to keep key definitions consistent across indicators, different surveys sometimes use different definitions, such as those for specific crimes and "at school." Therefore, caution should be used in making comparisons between results from different data sets.

Following are key findings from the various sections of the report:

From July 1, 1998, through June 30, 1999, there were 47 school-associated violent deaths in the United States. Thirty-eight of these violent deaths were homicides, six were suicides, two involved suspects killed by a law enforcement officer in the line of duty, and one was unintentional. Thirty-three of the 38 school-associated homicides were of school-aged children. These 33 homicides are relatively few (1 percent of all homicides of youth) compared to a total of 2,391 children ages 5 to 19 who were victims of homicide in the United States from July 1, 1998, through June 30, 1999. Four of the six school-associated suicides occurring from July 1, 1998, through June 30, 1999, were of school-aged children. Away from school, there were a total of 1,855 suicides of children ages 5 to 19 during the 1999 calendar year.

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. In 2000, students in this age range were victims of about 373,000 serious violent crimes away from school, compared with about 128,000 at school. This translates into a rate of 14 per 1,000 students away from school and 5 per 1,000 students at school.

• The percentage of students in grades 9 through 12 who have been threatened or injured with a weapon on school property³ has not changed significantly in recent years. In 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, and 2001, between 7 and 9 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.
• The percentage of students in grades 9 through 12 who reported being in a fight anywhere declined from 1993 to 2001—from 42 percent to 33 percent. Similarly, the percentage of students who reported fighting on school property also declined over this period, from 16 percent to 13 percent.
• In 2001, 8 percent of 12- through 18-year-old students reported being bullied at school in the last 6 months, up from 5 percent in 1999. Both males and females were more likely to report being bullied in 2001 than in 1999. In 2001, males were more likely than females to report being bullied (9 vs. 7 percent); however, in 1999, no such difference could be detected (5 percent each).
• Between 1992 and 2000, there was a 46 percent decrease in the violent crime victimization rate at school (from 48 to 26 incidents per 1,000 students ages 12 through 18) and a 52 percent decrease away from school (from 71 to 34 incidents per 1,000 students ages 12 through 18) (figure A). In 2000, younger students (ages 12 through 14) were not victimized at a different rate than older students (ages 15 through 18) either at or away from school.

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 at least one 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.

• Elementary schools were less likely than either middle or high schools to report any type of crime in 1996–97. Elementary schools were more likely to report vandalism (31 percent) than any other crime (19 percent or less).
• 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 incidents per 1,000 middle school students and 8 incidents per 1,000 high school students). Theft or larceny was more common at the high school level than at the middle school level (6 vs. 4 incidents per 1,000 students).

Over the 5-year period from 1996 through 2000, teachers were victims of approximately 1,603,000 nonfatal crimes at school, including 1,004,000 thefts and 599,000 violent crimes (rape or sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated and simple assault). On average, this translates into 74 crimes per 1,000 teachers per year.

• During the 1996 through 2000 period, senior high school and middle/junior high school teachers were more likely than elementary school teachers to be victims of violent crimes (most of which were simple assaults) (35 and 49 crimes per 1,000 senior and middle/junior high school teachers, respectively, vs. 15 crimes per 1,000 elementary school teachers).
• Teachers were differentially victimized by violent crimes at school according to where they taught. Over the 5-year period from 1996 through 2000, urban teachers were more likely to be victims of violent crimes than were suburban and rural teachers (36 crimes per 1,000 urban teachers vs. 21 and 17 crimes per 1,000 suburban and rural teachers, respectively).
• In the 1999–2000 school year, 9 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 305,000 teachers who were victims of threats of injury by students that year and 135,000 teachers who were victims of attacks by students.

Between 1995 and 1999, there was a decrease in the percentage of students ages 12 through 18 feeling unsafe while they were at school. However, between 1999 and 2001, there was no significant change in the percentage of students feeling unsafe. In both 1999 and 2001, students were more likely to be afraid of being attacked at school than away from school.

• Between 1993 and 2001, the percentage of students in grades 9 through 12 who reported carrying a weapon such as a gun, knife, or club on school property within the previous 30 days declined from 12 percent to 6 percent.
• Between 1995 and 1999, there was a decrease in the percentage of students ages 12 through 18 who avoided one or more places at school—from 9 percent to 5 percent. However, between 1999 and 2001, the percentage remained stable at 5 percent.
• In 2001, 12 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 had called them a derogatory word having to do with race, religion, ethnicity, disability, gender, or sexual orientation. During the same period, about 36 percent of students saw hate-related graffiti at school.
• In 2001, 20 percent of students reported that street gangs were present at their schools. Students in urban schools were more likely to report that there were street gangs at their schools (29 percent) than were suburban and rural students (18 percent and 13 percent, respectively).
• In the 1999–2000 school year, student tardiness and student absenteeism were reported as serious or moderate problems by about 30 percent of public school principals (32 percent and 29 percent, respectively) (figure B). Vandalism of school propertyand robbery or theft were considered to be serious or moderate problems in 6 percent and 4 percent of public schools, respectively, and student possession of weapons was reported as a serious or moderate problem by 1 percent of public school principals.
• In 2001, 5 percent of students in grades 9 through 12 had at least one drink of alcohol on school property in the last 30 days. Forty-seven percent of students had at least one drink anywhere during the same period.
• Between 1993 and 2001, there were no consistent patterns of increase or decrease found in the per-centage of students who had used marijuana—both anywhere and on school property. In 2001, 24 percent of students reported using marijuana anywhere in the last 30 days and 5 percent reported using marijuana on school property.
• In 2001, 29 percent of students in grades 9 through 12 reported that someone had offered, sold, or given them an illegal drug on school property in the last 12 months.