NCJ Number
228124
Date Published
October 2002
Length
53 pages
Annotation
This report examined the characteristics of violent offending in schools using the 1992-2000 National Crime Victimization Survey.
Abstract
Highlights of the report include: (1) violent offenses against students at school averaged about 1 million per year from 1992-2000; (2) violent school offending rates varied by race and gender; males were more likely than females and both African-Americans and persons of other races were more likely than Whites to commit a violent crime at school; (3) 55 percent of all violent offending was lone offending, offending in which there was on a single offender; (4) 8 percent of school offenders were armed with a weapon; (5) armed offenses were more likely to be reported than unarmed offenses (21 percent versus 13 percent, respectively); and (6) 38 percent of all armed offenses were reported to another official, but not to the police. A number of high profile cases of extreme school violence have captured the Nation's attention. However, most of what is known about violence at school focuses on victims and school conditions rather than offenders. This report provides population estimates and descriptions of violent offending and violent offenders using the 1992-2000 National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) files. Identifying the important characteristics of offending through the victims' perspectives was the first step towards understanding the characteristics and behaviors of those who target students. References and tables