2. Victimization of students at school and away from school*

The amount of crime committed in the nation's schools continues to be a concern. Even though crime has decreased in recent years, theft and violence at school and while going to and from school still can lead to disruptive and threatening environments, reducing student performance.

• Students ages 12 through 18 experienced fewer nonfatal serious violent crimes (that is, rape, sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault) when they were at school than away from school ². In 1999, students in this age group were victims of about 186,000 such crimes at school, and about 476,000 away from school (tables 2.1 and 2.3). The victimization rate for serious violent crime at school and away from school generally declined from 1992 to 1999 (figure 2.1 and tables 2.2 and 2.4).
• Students ages 12 through 18 were victims of about 880,000 nonfatal violent crimes (that is, serious violent crime plus simple assault) at school, and about 1.1 million away from school in 1999 (tables 2.1 and 2.3). There was a general decline in the violent victimization rate between 1992 and 1999 at school as well as away from school (from 48 to 33 and from 71 to 39 per 1,000 students ages 12 through 18, respectively) (figure 2.1 and tables 2.2 and 2.4). For each year from 1992 through 1997, the victimization rates for nonfatal violent crime were lower at school than away from school but these rates were similar in 1998 and 1999³.
• Students were more likely to be victims of theft at school than away from school for most years between 1992 and 1999. In 1999, about 1.6 million thefts occurred at school (64 percent of all crimes at school), and about 1.0 million occurred away from school (50 percent of all crimes away from school) (tables 2.1 and 2.3). The victimization rate declined for thefts at school between 1992 and 1999 as it did for thefts away from school during this period (figure 2.1 and tables 2.2 and 2.4).
• Considering nonfatal crime (theft plus violent crime), students were victims of about 2.5 million crimes while they were at school in 1999, and about 2.1 million away from school (tables 2.1 and 2.3). These represent victimization rates of 92 crimes per 1,000 students at school, and 78 crimes per 1,000 students away from school (figure 2.1 and tables 2.2 and 2.4).
• In 1999, the rates for serious violent crimes were about the same for males and females at school, but higher for males than females away from school (figures 2.2 and 2.3 and tables 2.2 and 2.4). In the same year, rates of theft were similar for males and females both at school and away from school.
• In 1999, students living in urban and suburban areas experienced serious violent crime at school at similar rates (figure 2.2 and table 2.2). Away from school, urban students were more vulnerable to serious violent crime than were suburban students, and suburban students were more likely to experience serious violent vic-timization than were rural students (figure 2.3 and table 2.4). However, student vulnerability to theft in 1999 was similar in urban, suburban, and rural areas both at and away from school (figures 2.2 and 2.3 and tables 2.2 and 2.4).
• Younger students (ages 12 through 14) were victimized at a higher rate than older students (ages 15 through 18) at school (figures 2.2 and 2.3 and tables 2.2 and 2.4). However, older students were more likely than younger students to be victimized away from school.