NCJ Number
137427
Date Published
1990
Length
8 pages
Annotation
Based on approximately 2,500 newspaper accounts, this report examines 227 incidents between 1986 and 1990 in which shootings occurred at schools or where individuals held others hostage at gun point on school property.
Abstract
An analysis of the news reports found that at least 71 people, including 65 students and 6 school employees, were killed with guns at schools; 201 were wounded, and 242 were held hostage. Shootings or hostage situations in schools occurred in at least 35 States and the District of Columbia. Over 90 percent of the offenders were male as were 76 percent of the victims; children between the ages of 14 and 17 were at highest risk. The most frequent locations of gun violence in schools were the hallways and classrooms. The leading causes of school gun violence were gang or drug disputes, longstanding arguments, romantic disagreements, fights over material possessions, and accidents. Handguns were used by 75 percent of those who committed gun violence in schools. 11 tables