School Violence

Data and Trends

The best sources of data about violence in school come from government agencies. Notably, the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, publishes the School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey, one of the most comprehensive sources of data available about victimization. [Page 809]The Bureau of Justice Statistics in cooperation with the National Center for Education Statistics also publishes an annual report on crime occurring in and on the way to and from school called “Indicators of School Crime and Safety.”

Contrary to popular perception, most varieties of school violence declined in the past decade. Although multiple homicides in schools appeared in news media headlines, school-related homicides actually declined drastically. In fact, schools are among the safest places for children. Students ages 12 to 18 are more likely to be victimized outside of school than in school. In the past decade, the percentage of students carrying weapons to school and engaging in physical fighting also declined.

Despite popular conceptions of schools as violent places, the majority of crimes that occur on school grounds are property crimes such as theft. Like violent offenses, most varieties of property offenses have also declined. These declines in violent and property offense in schools were consistent across gender, grade, and race/ethnicity, although younger, male, and African American or Hispanic students continue to engage in a higher rate of delinquency than their older, female, and white or Asian American counterparts.

Stratification of School Violence

Evidence suggests that school and student characteristics structure a hierarchy of vulnerability to school violence. At the school level, findings illustrate that students attending larger, urban, relatively poorer schools, with predominantly a racial and/or ethnic minority student body, are more likely to be victimized. At the student level, grade, gender, and sexual orientation are individual factors associated with exposure to school violence.

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