Violence in Schools

There is no agreed-on definition among educators for violence in schools. Definitions vary from that of the American Psychological Association, which defines violence as “purposefully hurting someone,” to a definition provided by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), which includes “deprivation.” The CDC definition of violence is a threat of use of force, with a high probability of inflicting pain or damage, or power against a person or group. Yet there is clear agreement that a safe, nonviolent learning environment is necessary for student learning.

The most complete report on school crime and safety is the Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2003 Report, which is a joint effort by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and National Center for Education Statistics. This report looks at crime at school from the perspectives of students, teachers, principals, and the general population. It also provides information regarding crime occurring in school, as well as on the way to and from school. Indicators of school violence specifically addressed in this report are victimization, fights, bullying, disorder, teacher injury, weapons, student perceptions of school safety, and others.

The most recent report found that students aged 12 to 18 were victims of nearly 1.2 million crimes of theft and 764,000 nonfatal crimes of violence or theft at school in 2001. However, between 1992 and 2001, overall school violence declined from 48 violent victimizations per 1,000 students to 28. Since 1995, the percentage of students who reported being a victim of violent crime or theft at school decreased from 10% to 6%.

Other findings from this report indicate that some behaviors have neither increased nor decreased, such as percentages of suicides of school-aged youth, students being threatened or injured with a weapon on school property, teachers being physically attacked by a student, hate-related graffiti, and measures of marijuana use, alcohol use, and drug distribution. However, the prevalence of bullying has increased from 5% in 1999 to 8% in 2001, with students reporting that they had been bullied at school in the last 6 months.

Although the report suggests that in general, violence at school is lessening, still, 48 people died in school-related violence in the 2003/2004 school year, the highest number in any year in the past decade. This has caused advocates of school safety to have an additional concern, since a 40% drop in spending for juvenile crime prevention was proposed in the 2005 federal budget.