NCJ Number
188159
Journal
Juvenile Justice Volume: 8 Issue: 1 Dated: June 2001 Pages: 3-12
Date Published
June 2001
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This overview of school violence notes that assessing school safety involves many factors and uses data from several studies to discuss how much crime and what kinds of crimes are occurring in the country’s schools, whether schools are more or less safe than in the past, and whether students feel safe at school.
Abstract
National indicators include school-associated violent deaths, nonfatal crimes against students, nonfatal crimes against teachers, carrying a weapon, fighting, students’ perception of school safety, and information on classroom disruption. The analysis reveals that school-associated violent deaths are rare and that less than 1 percent of the more than 1,350 children murdered in the first half of the 1998-99 were killed at school or school events. In addition, nonfatal crimes against students at school declined from 144 per 1,000 students in 1992 to 101 per 1,000 students in 1998. Each year from 1994 through 1998, an average of 31 violent crimes against teachers and 51 thefts against teachers took place for every 1,000 teachers. The percentage of students in grades 9 through 12 who reported carrying a weapon to school once or more during the previous month declined from 12 to 7 percent and the percentage of students who reported being involved in a fight on school property during the previous year declined from 16 to 14 percent between 1993 and 1999. Data from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey conducted by many States, territories, and cities revealed changes similar to the national trends. The analysis concluded that most indicators suggest that progress is being made in reducing crime and violence in schools, although classroom disruption is prevalent and erodes the educational opportunities of many students. Figures, notes, and 2 references