Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 2001

NATION'S SCHOOLS EXPERIENCE A DROP IN CRIME AND VICTIMIZATION, ACCORDING TO THE DEPARTMENTS OF JUSTICE & EDUCATION

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Victimization in the nation's schools has decreased since 1992, according to a new report issued today by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics and the Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics. The report, Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 2001, points out that between 1992 and 1999, violent victimization rates at schools generally declined from 48 crimes per 1,000 students ages 12 through 18 to 33 per 1,000 students.

Data from the report also indicate that between 1995 and 1999 the percentage of students who said they were the victims of any crime of violence or theft at school decreased from 10 percent to 8 percent.

During 1999, students were victims of about 2.5 million crimes at school, 1.6 million thefts and 880,000 nonfatal violent crimes, including about 186,000 serious violent crimes (rape, sexual assault, robbery and aggravated assault). In comparison, students were victims of 2.1 million crimes away from school: 1 million thefts and 1.1 million nonfatal violent crimes, including 476,000 serious violent crimes.

Further, the data show that between 1993 and 1999, the percentage of 9th through 12th grade students who were threatened or injured with a weapon, such as a gun, knife or club, on school property remained constant between 7 and 8 percent. Other indicators did experience changes. The percentage of those students who reported being in a physical fight on school property declined from 16 percent in 1993 to 14 percent in 1999. Between 1993 and 1999 students in grades 9 through 12 who reported carrying a gun, knife or club on school property during the previous 30 days dropped from 12 percent to 7 percent, about a 42 percent reduction.

Over the 1995-1999 period, teachers were the victims of 1,708,000 nonfatal crimes at school, including 1,073,000 thefts and 635,000 violent crimes. On a per teacher basis, this translates to 79 crimes per 1,000 teachers annually.

The report is the fourth in a series of annual reports from the Justice Department and the Department of Education and is organized as a series of indicators, with each indicator presenting data on a different aspect of school crime and safety. In some cases time periods reflected in the indicators may vary since the report contains the most recent crime and safety data available from a number of separate federally-funded studies. This year's report repeats many indicators from the 2000 report, but also provides updated data on fatal and nonfatal student victimization, nonfatal teacher victimization, students being threatened or injured with a weapon at school, fights at school, students carrying weapons to schools, students use of alcohol and marijuana, and student reports of drug availability on school property.

Single copies of Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 2001 may be obtained by calling the BJS Clearinghouse at 1-800/732-3277, or by calling ED Pubs at 1-877/4ED-PUBS.

After the release date, the full report will be available at: http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=991 or at: http://nces.ed.gov

Additional criminal justice materials can be obtained from the Office of Justice Programs homepage at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov

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Media may contact Dave Thomas at the Department of Education at 202/401-1579 or David Hess at the Department of Justice at 202/307-0703.

After hours contact: David Hess at: 888/763-8943