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Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 2002
Executive Summary

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Violent Deaths at School

Nonfatal Student Victimization-Student Reports

Violence and Crime at School-Public School Principal/ Disciplinarian Reports

Nonfatal Teacher Victimization at School-Teacher Reports

School Environment

Figures

Full Report (PDF) (PDF - 1152 KB)

-Supplemental Tables (PDF - 154 KB)

-Standard Error Tables (PDF - 156 KB)

-Appendix A   School Practices and Policies Related to Safety and Discipline' (PDF - 60 KB)

-Appendix B   Technical Notes (PDF - 83 KB)

-Appendix C   Glossary of Terms (PDF - 32 KB)

-Excel Tables   Zip Format (240 KB)




Violent deaths at school and away from school

1. Violent deaths at school and away from school*

Violent deaths are tragic events that affect not only the individuals and their families directly involved, but also everyone in the schools where they occur.

  • From July 1, 1992 through June 30, 1999, there were 358 school-associated violent deaths1 in the United States, including 255 deaths of school-aged children (ages 5 to 19) (table 1.1). In each survey year, school-aged children were at least 70 times more likely to be murdered away from school than they were to be murdered at school.
  • In the most recent school year for which data are available, from July 1, 1998 to June 30, 1999, there were 47 school-associated violent deaths (table 1.1). Thirty-eight of these violent deaths were homicides, six were suicides, a law enforcement officer in the line of duty killed two, and one was unintentional.
  • There was no consistent pattern of increase or decrease in the number of homicides or suicides of school-aged children at school between July 1, 1992 and June 30, 1999 (figure 1.1 and table 1.1).
  • Of the 358 total school-associated violent deaths that occurred between July 1, 1992 and June 30, 1999, 218 were homicides of school-aged children and 37 were suicides of school-aged children (table 1.1). Away from school, during the same period, there were a total of 22,323 homicides of children ages 5 to 19. During the 1993 to 1999 calendar years, there were 14,813 suicides of children in this age group away from school.
  • In the most recent year, from July 1, 1998 through June 30, 1999, 33 of the 38 school-associated homicides were of school-aged children (figure 1.2 and table 1.1). During this same time frame, there were 2,358 homicides of children ages 5 to 19 away from school.
  • Four of the six school-associated suicides, which occurred from July 1, 1998 to June 30, 1999, were of school-aged children (figure 1.2 and table 1.1). Away from school, there were 1,855 suicides of children ages 5 to 19 during the 1999 calendar year.

*This indicator has been updated to include 1992 through 1999 data and revised from previously published estimates.
1 A school-associated violent death is a homicide, suicide, legal intervention, or unintentional firearm-related death in which the fatal injury occurred on the campus of a functioning elementary or secondary school in the United States, while the victim was on the way to or from regular sessions at such a school, or while the victim was attending or traveling to or from an official school-sponsored event. Victims included nonstudents as well as students and staff members.

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