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Major Indicators of Need In light of the small number of highly publicized acts of school violence in the news—such as the deadly shootings in April 1999 at Columbine High School in Littleton, CO—it is especially important to gain an accurate picture of the current level of school violence. Data from the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education1 document that students are safer in school than in other locations and that school victimization declined during the 1990’s. In 1997, about 24 of every 1,000 students (ages 12–18) were victims of serious violent crimes away from school, while only 8 of every 1,000 students were victims of such crimes at school.2 Less than 1 percent of the more than 2,500 murders and suicides of juveniles that year occurred at school. In all, 58 school-associated deaths (including students and non-students) that resulted from 46 incidents were reported for the 1997–98 school year. In school year 1996–97, 43 percent of all schools surveyed reported no crimes to the police, and 47 percent reported one or more minor or nonviolent crimes but no serious or violent crimes. These results suggest that students are relatively safe at school and safer now than at any time in the 1990’s; however, students in substantial numbers are victims of nonserious violent crime (simple assault) and theft. In 1997, for example, of students ages 12–18, 40 out of 1,000 males and 24 out of 1,000 females were victims of simple assault, and 64 out of 1,000 males and 61 out of 1,000 females were victims of theft while at school. Teachers are also the victims of a significant number of nonserious violent crimes and thefts at school. During the 5-year period from 1993 through 1997, teachers experienced 579,100 simple assaults and 1,114,000 thefts, averaging 115,820 simple assaults and 222,800 thefts per year. This means that approximately 27 out of 1,000 teachers were victims of simple assault and 53 out of 1,000 teachers were victims of theft each year. Teachers at middle and junior high schools had the highest rates of victimization for these crimes, followed by senior high school and elementary school teachers. Also of concern are the presence of guns or other weapons in schools and students’ increased fear of victimization. In 1997, 18 percent of high school students reported carrying a weapon such as a gun, knife, or club in the past 30 days, and 9 percent reported carrying a weapon on school property in the past 30 days. This is a decrease from the 12 percent of students who reported carrying a weapon to school in 1993. Yet, despite this decrease and a concurrent decrease in overall school victimizations during the 1990’s, students’ perception of danger increased. In 1989, 6 percent of students ages 12–19 sometimes or most of the time feared they were going to be attacked or harmed at school; by 1995, this percentage had risen to 9. This review suggests that, although school is a relatively safe place for students, faculty, and staff—indeed, as previously noted, for many youth, school grounds are safer than their neighborhoods—a number of students and school personnel are victimized at school. Although a small number of killings take place on school property each year, the number of assaults, with and without weapons, is significant. Current research does not pinpoint specific causes of student misconduct and victimization. This inability to identify causes highlights the complexity of this problem and magnifies the difficulty of finding a solution. Although school safety initiatives should be tailored to the circumstances of individual schools and communities, current knowledge indicates the need for a multifaceted program that focuses on several areas that have a significant impact on school safety.
1 Data presented in this section are taken from Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 1999 (Kaufman et al., 1999) and the 1999 Annual Report on School Safety (U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Education, 1999). 2 “At school” includes incidents on school property, at a school-sponsored event, or in transit to or from school or a school-sponsored event.
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