The article below is based on the seventeenth report produced jointly by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Institute of Education Sciences (IES), in the U.S. Department of Education, and the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) in the U.S. Department of Justice. This report presents the most recent data available on school crime and student safety.
The report was offered in 2015. Summations:
Over all available survey years, the percentage of youth homicides occurring at school remained at less than 2 percent of the total number of youth homicides, and the percentage of youth suicides occurring at school remained at less than 1 percent of the total number of youth suicides.
For students ages 12–18, the rate of violent victimization in 2013 was higher at school than away from school. The 2013 violent victimization rates were 37 per 1,000 students at school and 15 per 1,000 students away from school. This difference was driven primarily by higher rates of simple assault at school.
In 2009–10, about 74 percent of public schools recorded one or more violent incidents, 16 percent recorded one or more serious violent incidents, and 44 percent recorded one or more thefts.
The percentage of students in grades 9–12 who reported being in a physical fight anywhere decreased between 1993 and 2013 (from 42 to 25 percent), and the percentage of students in these grades who reported being in a physical fight on school property also decreased during this period (from 16 to 8 percent).
Between 1993 and 2013, the percentage of students in grades 9–12 who reported carrying a weapon on school property 1 day during the previous 30 days declined from 12 to 5 percent. A higher percentage of male students than of female students reported they had carried a weapon, both anywhere and on school property, in every survey year from 1993 to 2013.
The percentage of students who reported being afraid of attack or harm at school decreased from 12 percent in 1995 to 3 percent in 2013, and the percentage of students who reported being afraid of attack or harm away from school decreased from 6 percent in 1999 to 3 percent in 2013.In 2013, approximately 3 percent of students ages 12–18 reported being victimized at school during the previous 6 months.
Two percent of students reported theft, 1 percent reported violent victimization, and less than one-half of 1 percent reported serious violent victimization. Between 1995 and 2013, the percentage of students ages 12–18 who reported being victimized at school decreased overall, as did the percentages of students who reported theft, violent victimization, and serious violent victimization.
In 2013, about 7 percent of students in grades 9–12 reported that they were threatened or injured with a weapon on school property. The percentage of students who reported being threatened or injured with a weapon on school property has decreased over the last decade, from 9 percent in 2003 to 7 percent in 2013.
During the 2011–12 school year, a higher percentage of public than private school teachers reported being threatened with injury (10 vs. 3 percent) or being physically attacked (6 vs. 3 percent) by a student from their school.
During the 2009–10 school year, 23 percent of public schools reported that bullying occurred among students on a daily or weekly basis, 9 percent reported student acts of disrespect for teachers other than verbal abuse on a daily or weekly basis, and 5 percent reported that student verbal abuse of teachers occurred on a daily or weekly basis. Sixteen percent reported gang activities during the school year.
The percentage of students ages 12–18 who reported that gangs were present at their school decreased from 18 percent in 2011 to 12 percent in 2013. A higher percentage of students from urban areas (18 percent) reported a gang presence than students from suburban (11 percent) and rural areas (7 percent) in 2013.
The percentage of students in grades 9–12 who reported that illegal drugs were offered, sold, or given to them on school property increased from 1993 to 1995 (from 24 to 32 percent), but then decreased to 22 percent in 2013. The percentage of students who reported that illegal drugs were made available to them on school property was lower in 2013 than in 2011 (22 vs. 26 percent).
In 2013, about 7 percent of students ages 12–18 reported being the target of hate-related words and 25 percent reported seeing hate-related graffiti at school during the school year; the corresponding 2011 percentages were both higher (9 and 28 percent, respectively).
The percentage of students who reported being bullied was lower in 2013 (22 percent) than in every prior survey year (28 percent each in 2005, 2009, and 2011 and 32 percent in 2007).